You Can't Escape
by thisissparta789789
Summary: One minute, he was involved in a car crash. The next, he awoke to find himself in an unfamiliar apartment with an unfamiliar family in Japan. Then, he began to put the pieces together as the world around him came into view... He was in a world where he knew what tragedies would happen right from the start, but he would be damned if he didn't at least try to stop some suffering.
1. Where Am I? Is This

It was just another night for a young man who was driving home to his parents' house after working a late-night shift from 4 to 12 near Baltimore. He looked to be about 18, and was fresh out of high school, which had let out 4 months earlier. He had no idea of where to take his life next, and he was only enrolled in general education classes at college.

As he came up to a red light, he stopped and yawned. He then saw it flash green and proceeded through, just as he normally did.

Then, suddenly, he saw headlights from his right side, followed by a loud bang as glass shattered around him.

* * *

Suddenly, it was morning as he suddenly awoke. Immediately, he realized that something was not right. He looked around and noticed that his room was unrecognizable and smaller. He then looked out the window behind his bed and noticed his room was 6 floors off the ground. He also did not recognize the pajamas he wore at all, nor did he recognize the clothes that had been laid out for him as he also checked the time. "Huh... That's odd... I still sound the same." He then turned to a mirror and widened his eyes in shock.

He was no longer an 18-year-old young man with brown hair from Maryland. He was a younger junior high-aged boy, no older than 14 or maybe 13, with light brown hair from what seemed to be an east Asian country.

"What the fuck?" He then got up and looked around the room, finding a Japanese poster of Darling in the Franxx on his wall. "Well, at least I still have good taste in shows." He then chuckled to himself.

Then, he heard a female voice call out in Japanese, "Azuma! Breakfast is ready!"

"Coming, mom," he replied back in fluent Japanese without thinking. He then suddenly recoiled and said in English, "What the fuck?! How did I remember that was my mom, and how can I speak Japanese?!" He then hurriedly got dressed as he looked at his uniform and thought to himself, _"Why do I recognize this uniform from somewhere?"_ He then picked his phone up and checked the date: May 16, 2024. _"6 years into the future? There's no way I watched Darling in the Franxx at 8 when it was airing here. Maybe I have an older brother or I watched it later? Say, May 16..."_

* * *

As he walked to school, he felt as if the route he was walking was familiar, even though he had never walked it before. _"Okay,"_ he thought to himself as he began to write stuff about his new life on a notepad. _"Darling in the Franxx got a Season 2 in 2021 that was about the VIRM returning and the reincarnated Hiro and Zero-Two fighting them followed by a movie in 2022 that was an interquel about the rest of Squad 13, I am an only child, I got the poster at a shop, my parents were into anime when they were my age and watched DiTF when it first aired, though I wasn't shown it until I was older due to its content. As for me personally, my name is Azuma Inubouzaki, I'm 14, and I'm in what would be 8th Grade in America or 2nd-year-middle-school here. Oh, and for some reason, Madoka Magica got them confused when I asked about that, though other magical girl shows exist, like Sailor Moon or Yuuki Yuuna."_ He then finished his notes and said to himself in English, "Fuck, I gotta repeat the awkwardness that was middle school, and I still don't know where the hell I am. Well, at least I'll get straight-As in English classes, and hopefully I've learned from my mistakes."

He then looked around and admired the sights. He was impressed by the city, which had many tall buildings that looked almost brand new. Then, as he walked by a fountain, he noticed that many of the people that walked by had natural hair colors that should not have been possible. He then heard what sounded like several girls talking with each other nearby. Their voices sounded familiar to him.

He looked across the fountain and saw three girls chatting with each other. One had pink hair, the other blue, and the last one green. When he looked a bit closer without trying to get noticed, his jaw dropped as he quickly moved out of potential eyesight of them. As he collected himself, he said, "What... What... Whaaaaat... No way... Don't tell me... Wait..." He then opened up his flip phone and searched on the internet "Mitakihara Japan." Sure enough, results on Bing popped up with a Japanese Wikipedia article about the city. "This is... Now I know why my parents here didn't recognize Madoka Magica..." He then got up and took a deep breath. "Okay, don't panic. Just pretend to act normal. I think this will be the day Homura transfers into school." He then continued his walk to school.

* * *

As he sat down in his classroom, which he was again familiar with, he realized that Madoka, Sayaka, and Hitomi were all in his class, and that the teacher was Kazuko Saotome. He thought to himself, _"Oh, this is great, juuuust fucking great. I get a front-row 3D seat to one of the saddest anime I've ever seen. Let's see if she_ _does her thing with that Nakazawa guy. Say, we never did find out his first name in the show."_

As Ms. Saotome began her spiel as she had in the show, Azuma sat and watched, holding in laughter. After such, the teacher calmed down and said to the class, "Well, now that that's out of the way, let's give a big warm welcome to our new classmate!"

Azuma thought to himself, _"I gotta say, the girls in the show already looked cute, but they look better in real life. Well, here comes Homura."_

"Come on, Akemi-san," Kazuko said to the black-haired girl. "Don't be shy." As Homura walked into the room, everyone stared at her in awe.

 _"I can see why everyone called her pretty in the show,"_ the fan-turned-character thought to himself.

"I am Akemi Homura," the girl said with little emotion as she looked at Madoka. "It's nice to meet you all."

* * *

As Azuma stood outside of a music store in a mall, he said to himself, "This must be the place. It's gotta be it." He then walked inside as he was met with shoppers all around him. He noticed that neither Sayaka nor Madoka were at the store yet. "All I gotta do is find that back entrance to the closed off part."

As he walked in, he saw Homura briskly walk through the store and towards a hallway that led to the restrooms. As she did, she clearly was frustrated with something. Azuma quietly followed behind her without her noticing, sneaking behind boxes and cleaning supplies before she disappeared around a corner.

 _"This must be the way,"_ Azuma thought to himself as he rounded the corner to find a set of double-doors that had a sign reading "FLOOR ABOVE UNDER RENOVATION, CONSTRUCTION CREW ONLY." He looked around to make sure no one noticed him and then went in. They led to a set of stairs that led up to what was supposed to be the second level of the music store, which he climbed quickly. He then walked through the dark second level before exiting out onto the closed off floor, which was dark. He asked himself, "Should I really be getting myself into this?"

He then walked forward, using his phone as a flashlight. As he walked deeper, he realized that given what he had seen in the anime, Madoka and Sayaka has not entered the floor the way he had gone. He also saw what he thought was a shadow and ducked behind a cabinet to avoid being spotted. He then heard a familiar female voice call out, "Kyubey?! Where the hell are you?!"

 _"That wasn't Homura,"_ Azuma thought to himself. _"It has to be Mami. Speaking of which, I really gotta see what she looks like in real life."_ Suddenly, he saw the room around him change as the walls suddenly got covered with odd objects such as cotton balls and vines. He then got up and looked around as he recognized what was happening. "This must be the work of an enemy Stand! Well, either that or a witch." He told himself a joke based on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to try to keep himself calm.

Then, he saw the shadow suddenly run towards him as the same voice called out, "Who's there?! It's dangerous!"

Then, he saw her. Before his very eyes, Mami Tomoe came into full view, wearing her school uniform. To him, he was taken aback by her looks in real life. "Uh... Me?" She has the same hairstyle as she did in the show itself, and her eyes were still a deep yellow. _"She... She's gorgeous... She looks even hotter in real life... Wait, it feels weird thinking that, given you were 18 or almost 19 before you were reborn here, and since you ship her with the other characters usually. FBI, don't hurt me, please."_

"Are you a student at my school?" Mami noticed that Azuma was still wearing his uniform.

"Yeah," he replied as he gave a small bow. "My name is Inubouzaki Azuma. I'm a second-year. I believe you are Tomoe Mami, a third-year."

"I am," Mami replied as she looked around. "Well, anyways, come with me. You'll be safe as long as we stick together. I'll explain it in a way you can understand later. By the way, nice JoJo reference, but this isn't the work of an enemy Stand." She then took his arm and dragged him as they both ran towards the other end of the floor as the witch's barrier took form around them. "Huh... I can hear Kyubey now..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Mami replied, brushing it off. "So, how did you find your way up here?"

"I got lost," Azuma said, lying to her to conceal his true intentions. "And I found my way into here. How about you?"

"I came here to find someone," Mami replied as she continued to look around. "As long as you're with me, these things that keep chanting in German won't be bothering you." Indeed, the minions of the witch, which Azuma knew were called Anthonys, were chanting random threatening phrases in German at them as they passed by. They looked even more terrifying in real life than in the anime.

"I know I'll be having nightmares tonight," Azuma said out loud. "Wait, did I just say that?"

"I heard you," Mami replied as she chuckled. "Trust me, these things may be scary now, but you haven't seen anything yet." Then, the two of them spotted a scared Madoka and Sayaka ahead. Azuma could not see or hear him, but he knew that Madoka was holding Kyubey in her arms. "Ah! There you are!" She then stopped and let go of Azuma. "Watch this."

Azuma said to himself as Mami grabbed her soul gem, "That looks so cool!"

"It is," the blonde replied as a bright light emanated from the soul gem, creating a protector barrier around the four of them and clearing out several Anthonys ahead of them. As she then approached a scared Madoka and Sayaka, she said to them, "That was close, wasn't it? But don't worry. You're safe now."

Sayaka then said to her and Azuma, "Inubouzaki-san? From class? What are you doing here? Who's that girl with you?"

"I'm Tomoe Mami," Mami introduced herself. "I'm a year ahead of you two. I see you guys rescued Kyubey. Thanks."

Azuma said to them, "I can't see Kyubey, but I know he's there."

Mami turned around, confused, and asked him, "Huh? You know who Kyubey is? How?"

"I have my reasons," he simply replied, not wanting to give away his knowledge of the show. "Can you tell him he doesn't have to hide himself from me? I won't hurt him." Azuma felt a slight pain as he said the last sentence. _"I wanna fucking hack him to death, but I'll stay civil for now."_

"I suppose I can't hide from you forever if you know about me," a voice then called out as Kyubey suddenly appeared in front of Azuma and leapt our of Madoka's arms. "Inubouzaki Azuma, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he replied, wondering how Kyubey knew his name. "It is."

"Nice to meet you," the white alien creature replied to him. "By the way, Mami, I think you may wanna jump into action. This witch is getting restless." He then pointed at a thicket of barbed wire that rose around Mami.

"I see," Mami replied as she stepped back. "Let's do this." She then spun around and began to transform. As Azuma watched, he could almost hear the music from that scene of the show, Credens Justitiam, play in his head.

Madoka said to Azuma, "Inubouzaki-san, I'm glad you weren't hurt."

"Thank you," he replied. "Same to you and Miki-san." He decided to err on the side of caution and refer to Madoka and Sayaka by their family names for now. He then looked up and saw that Mami had fully transformed and was now forming muskets with her ribbons, which was even more impressive in real life. _"She looks amazing. Why do I keep admiring her? Granted, she was my best girl in the old world, but still, it's not like the other characters don't look nice, but something keeps attracting me to her."_

Mami the called out, "Eat this!" She then had all the muskets fire upon the witch, blowing it up in front of Azuma, Madoka, Sayaka, and Kyubey as they were blown back by the force of the blast. However, it wasn't enough to destroy the witch, as it only caused it to simply flee away from the scene.

Sayaka said to Madoka, "That looks so cool!"

Then, as Mami landed, the witch's barrier around them disappeared and was replaced by the original closed off floor. As Madoka and Sayaka looked around in amazement, Mami said to Azuma, "So, you've found out my secret."

"I won't tell a soul," Azuma replied with a thumbs-up and a wink. "Trust me."

"Good," Mami replied. Then, they all turned to face Homura as she landed in front of them.

Azuma said to her, "You're the new transfer student in my class, right? Akemi Homura? I assume you're like Tomoe-san?"

Homura was shocked to find Azuma with them. "What?! Inubouzaki-san?!" She thought to herself, _"No way! This is an anomaly! I've never seen him do any of this in any other timeline at all! How is... How does he know about this?!"_

"The witch fled," Mami told Homura. "I'll let you take care of it."

Homura coldly told her, "You know I have unfinished business, right?"

"Not now," Mami replied to her as she stared her down. "Let's do that another time."

"Fine," Homura replied. "I suppose so." She then walked away from them to go kill the witch.

Sayaka breathes a sigh of relief before she said, "Thank God. She was giving me the creeps."

Mami then said to Azuma as she turned around, "So, I imagine Kyubey will ask you this as well, but, how do you know about magical girls?"

Madoka asked, "Magical what? Like in anime?"

"Sort of," Mami replied. "I'm sure you've heard of the classics, right? Sailor Moon, the various Precure series, Yuuki Yuuna, Tokyo Mew Mew, the list goes on and on. Yet in real life, only Yuuki Yuuna comes even close to depicting what real magical girls are actually like in terms of combat, and even then, there are key differences."

"Well," Azuma replied. "I had a cousin who was one." _"Wow, great, how fucking original, dude."_

"Sounds about right," Kyubey replied as he turned to Madoka and Sayaka. "Say, speaking of that, why don't you two consider becoming magical girls like Tomoe Mami here. All you need to do is make a contract with me."

Madoka and Sayaka asked at the same time, "A contract?"

* * *

As Homura sat down on a couch in her home, she wrote down notes as she wondered to herself. "How does Inubouzaki-san know about magical girls?! How did he get to that location in the mall?! Why is this happening only in this timeline?!" She slammed her fist at the table in frustration. "That reckless idiot could compromise everything!" She then took a deep breath as she tried to relax. "Okay, Homura, calm yourself down. I need to make sure he keeps a distance from us."

"He is not normal," a voice suddenly said to her from behind. Homura turned around to see Kyubey staring directly at her and gave him an angry look. "He should not know a single thing about how magical girls work. I tell every girl I make a contract with to not reveal the details to non-magical girls, but I guess at least a few didn't listen. How troublesome."

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this to someone like you," Homura commented in disbelief. "And I still can't believe I am, but I completely agree with you on this one, Kyubey. Inubouzaki-san is unpredictable."

* * *

At around the same time, Mami led Azuma, Sayaka, and Madoka to her apartment. As they got off a bus to her building, Azuma looked up and noticed something familiar about it. _"Huh... Why does this place seem familiar? Wait a minute..."_ As Mami talked to the other two girls, Azuma checked his phone to see where on Google Maps he had set as his home. "No way!"

Mami, wondering what he had seen, asked him, "Inubouzaki-san, what is it?"

"You live in the same apartment complex my family lives in," Azuma replied as he showed her where his home was on Google Maps. "Which apartment? My family is in Apartment 6-7."

"You're a floor below me then," the blonde replied as she smiled. "I'm Apartment 5-4. What a coincidence, huh?"

"I guess so," Azuma replied, slightly blushing. _"It's like a dream come true... Hopefully, it won't turn into a nightmare."_


	2. A New Friend

As the four of them entered Mami's apartment, it was exactly like it was when Azuma had first seen the show. _"This apartment looks siiiiiick,"_ he thought to himself. _"I wonder how she afforded this."_

"I live here alone," Mami told the three of them. "So I always enjoy the company of guests. I wasn't expecting any today, though, hence why I didn't get anything ready."

"It's fine," Azuma replied.

Madoka said to her, "Tomoe-san, your apartment looks so cool!"

"Thank you," the blonde replied. "I'll be right back."

About 10 minutes later, Mami places cheesecake slices and hot tea in front of the three of them and herself. "It's an old recipe from my family."

As Azuma tried the cake, his mouth became filled with a vibrant flavor. "This is really good, Tomoe-san."

"Yeah," Sayaka also said in agreement. "Thank you, Tomoe-san!"

"You guys can just call me by my first name," Mami assured them. "Well, anyways, I suppose I owe you three an explanation, especially Kaname-san and Miki-san since Kyubey seems to be interested in you two."

"Sure thing," Sayaka replied after sipping some tea. "Go right ahead."

"Well," Mami began as she placed her soul gem on the table. "This is a soul gem. Any girl that makes a contract with Kyubey gets one of these. It identifies them as magical girls and stores their powers."

"Contract?" Madoka was slightly confused. "Like a business contract?"

"My apologies for not explaining it earlier when I offered it to you two," Kyubey explained. "You see, when you make a contract with me or another of my kind, you will be granted one wish of whatever you want. No matter how ridiculous it may seem to you, I can make it happen."

Azuma felt uneasy as he heard Kyubey, thinking to himself, _"This is gonna be really fucking painful to listen to, knowing what would be happening next."_

"Anything?! Amazing!" Sayaka pondered to herself what she would wish for if given the chance. "Gold? Money? Servants? Power?"

"Yep," Kyubey continued. "However, I can't just offer you a wish for free. In exchange, you will be given a soul gem and you will be tasked with fighting witches. You guys saw Mami and Homura fight one of them."

Sayaka asked, "That thing in the mall was a witch?"

"Yeah," Mami and Azuma both said at the same time before they realized they interrupted each other.

"Oh, sorry," Azuma replied. "I'll let you speak."

Mami chuckled and replied, "It's fine. I bet you know more than the average person on the street. Anyway, a witch is more or less born from negative desires like curses according to Kyubey. They will spread despair and generally wreak havoc on the living. They live in their own dimensions called barriers, and seek to either somehow draw regular people into them or kill them through different ways, such as leaving a witch's kiss. Many unexplained deaths are attributable to witches and their familiars, which are small beings that are insanely devoted to their witch and may in fact evolve into witches themselves if their head witch is killed and they are left to roam. The fact they hide in their barriers ensures that most do not know of their existence."

"That sounds awful," Madoka replied. "I can see why magical girls are necessary. It sounds dangerous."

"It can be if you don't know what you're doing," Mami replied. "However, if you take the right safety precautions, you will survive. The highest priority when fighting a witch is to always rescue people who are trapped inside the barrier or under the control of a witch's kiss. Even if the witch has to get away, which is exceptionally rare, you can always fight it another time or leave another magical girl or team of girls to take care of it. We put our lives on the line, much like police officers and firefighters, though the enemy we face is certainly very different from criminals or fires, and can either be less dangerous or much more dangerous than both."

"Well put," Azuma replied, surprised that Mami was doing most of the talking instead of Kyubey. "My cousin always said the same thing to me. Tragically, she lost her life a year ago, though not to anything magical girl-related."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Mami assured him. "She must have been a good fighter."

"She was," Azuma said back, continuing to lie to keep his true origins a secret. He then turned to Madoka and Sayaka. "Kaname-san, Miki-san, being a magical girl is a choice that takes careful consideration due to the risks Mami-san laid out, but it can be a very rewarding experience."

"I see," Madoka replied, unsure of what to do or what else to say.

"I got an idea," Mami spoke up after a few seconds of silence. "Why don't I give you three a front-row seat to what it's like to fight a witch?"

Madoka and Sayaka, both flabbergasted, replied "No way!"

"Yeah way," Mami replied. "I think you two need to make an informed choice about the matter, and what better way to do it than to see what it's like?"

"I can come too? But I can't be a magical girl." Azuma was confused as to why Mami was letting him tag along. "I need to be a girl, for one."

"It doesn't matter," Mami assured him. "You are always free to watch us, just as long you don't get hurt and stay out of danger."

"I appreciate that," he replied as he smiled. "Thank you, Mami-san." In his mind, he was still in disbelief she was actually letting him see her fight, and was warming up to him in general. _"Somebody pinch me. This has to be some dream."_

"Say," Sayaka then asked. "What's the deal with that Homura girl anyway? Why did she attack Madoka?"

Almost immediately, Azuma slightly recoiled in pain. He thought to himself, _"No, she fucking didn't. She was after Kyubey."_ He was able to keep his anger hidden from everyone else, though, not wanting to reveal his secrets. He would have to sit through many theories about the black-haired girl that he knew right from the get-go were not true at all.

"It was me she was after," Kyubey explained to Sayaka. "Madoka was not the intended target. If anything, Homura seems to care for Madoka for some unknown reason. She's trying to prevent her from making a contract."

"Why me?" Madoka was terribly confused by the ordeal, having no prior knowledge of Homura aside from the dream she had the day she first met Mami. "I've never met her in my whole life before she came to my school."

"My theory is that she wants to attain more rewards for killing witches for herself," Mami added in, giving her thoughts on the situation. "Killing a witch has certain rewards, and at times, conflicts can arise that result in fights. Perhaps this Homura girl feels that the less magical girls there are in the area, the less pointless infighting there is." She then sighed. "I don't agree with her methods, if all that is true, but I unfortunately can see where she's coming from."

* * *

The next day, Mami and Azuma walked to school together, conversing more about magical girls and the like. "I'm surprised Kyubey revealed himself so early to you," the blonde said to him as they crossed a street. "I don't think he's ever revealed himself to a boy, much less anyone this fast unless they were possible candidates."

"My cousin wasn't recruited by the same Kyubey," Azuma said to her, continuing the lie. "But he probably heard me mentioning I knew about the whole business and decided it wasn't worth it to stay hidden when I knew he was present." He then noticed a puddle in front of them that Mami was about to walk in to. "Hey, watch out."

Mami looked down and quickly stepped out of the way. She looked back and smiled at Azuma, telling him, "Thanks. Wouldn't want my shoes getting soaked before I go to school." She then chuckled. "Say, I never knew you to be so interested in this before we met. I've seen you in passing, but word from other people always described you as quiet and unassuming."

"Well," Azuma replied, knowing that they had been talking about the memories and experiences of himself before the "soul-merger" as he termed it. "I guess you discover something new everyday." Azuma, thinking he made up a terrible excuse, sarcastically cheered in his head, _"Boo-yah!"_

"I guess," the blonde replied. "By the way, you seemed a bit bothered when we talked about Akemi-san the day before. Did something happen with her in the past?"

Azuma immediately stopped dead in his tracks as he tried to come up with an explanation. _"Uhhhh... Uhhhh... Think, think, think, think, THIIIIIINK!"_ "Well, uh, my cousin fought with her a few times in the past in her old city when she was new, though I doubt Akemi-san would recognize her since she's probably met with so many magical girls before."

"Ah," Mami replied, wondering why Azuma seemed so bothered by the question. "I guessed she has been one for a while. Maybe another Kyubey made a contract with her when she was young. It isn't unheard of for girls to make contracts in their last year of elementary school, though it's not common."

Azuma thought to himself, "Ain't _that the truth, right Nagisa, or should I say, Charlotte?"_ He then pretended to be surprised and replied, "Wow. That seems a bit too young."

"I'm ambivalent on it," she replied as she looked around at the trees lining the path they were on as they got closer and closer to the school. "I've heard of girls that young who could probably kill me in a fight, and let me tell you, I don't mean to be crass or vulgar, but I'm pretty fucking good at this line of work. I use that word sparingly, so you get the idea."

"It's weird hearing you swear," Azuma noted, slightly laughing. "You seem like the person who doesn't like to."

"In private, you have no clue," Mami assured him. "And that goes for people I'm close to as well. When shit hits the fan or I get hurt, my mouth can get pretty dirty in the ensuing panic or pain." The two of them then laughed.

Suddenly, they heard a voice behind them. "Inubouzaki Azuma, who are you?" As the two of them turned around, they were confronted by Homura herself, who was also walking to school. "I overheard you two talking, and I couldn't help but step in. I suppose I did fight your cousin at one point, Inubouzaki-san, but alas, that was a while ago."

Azuma was surprised Homura was participating in the lie. Perhaps there was something she knew. "It was. Anyways, who am I? I'm just a student here. By pure chance, I got tangled in your world. Tomoe-san is my friend, and since I was already exposed to magical girls, don't I have the right to keep knowing?"

Mami was surprised he referred to her as a friend. _"Friend?"_

"It's bad enough I have to deal with Kaname Madoka and Miki Sayaka knowing about this," Homura said after a long pause that only heightened the tension. "I don't need some random boy who probably wants somebody in this circle in his pants, thinking we're like some anime or something."

Mami immediately stepped in to defend him, telling Homura, "He's far from any of that! He had family who was a magical girl that died in the line of duty! He has a personal stake, even if he is a boy!" She slightly blushed as well, given the sexual remark Homura had made. "I say that that alone makes him deserving to know about us. Even if he didn't, he still saw everything, and I did protect him. It would be pointless to keep him in the dark."

"That is your opinion," Homura replied after taking a second to process Mami's response. "And mine is the same. He has no business in our world." She then walked away, ignoring Mami as she called out her name.

Azuma said to her, "Just ignore it. We have bigger things to concern ourselves with anyway."

The blonde sighed and shook her head. "I suppose so."

* * *

"Well," Mami said as she spoke to Madoka, Sayaka, and Azuma at a fast food restaurant. Kyubey sat on Madoka's shoulder, watching the proceedings. "It's about time to start the first lesson of the magical girl experience." She was preparing them to ride-along with her on a patrol, and made sure to brief them before doing so. "At least, that's what I like to call it."

"I don't know if it will make any difference," Sayaka said as she grabbed a long piece of cloth. "But I did bring this!" She then unfurled it to triumphantly reveal a baseball bat she had stolen from the school. "Ta-da!"

Azuma laughed and said to her, "I see your bat, and I raise you my crowbar!" Azuma then pulled a small crowbar he had stuffed in his bookbag haphazardly. It was rusty, and had sharp edges. "Why waste a good bat when you can bash a familiar's skull in with this rust-bucket?" He then quickly put it away before anyone else noticed it.

Mami chuckled and told both of them, "I appreciate the spirit, but I'll have to modify both of them temporarily with magic to make them effective."

"I didn't bring anything," Madoka replied as she began to pull out her journal. "But I did draw this." She then opened the pages to reveal some drawing she made of Mami, Homura, and herself. "I imagined myself as a magical girl, and this popped up, I guess."

Both Mami and Sayaka laughed as Azuma looked on in concealed amazement. _"No way... This is that famous image, in living color!"_ "You draw good," Azuma told the pinkette.

"Indeed," Mami replied. "We weren't laughing at you at all."

Madoka blushed in response in slight embarrassment. "I suppose I sorta am."


	3. How Troublesome

As the gang walked in the same mall they had first all met in, Azuma wrote some stuff down in his own journal. As he wrote, Sayaka looked over at him and said, "What are you writing, Azuma-kun?"

"Hm?" Azuma was slightly startled. "Oh! Just writing down my schedule, that's all." He was lying to her, actually. In reality, he was writing down the day's events in English.

 _You know, it feels like I'm living in some cliche. Isekais are so overdone, they banned them from that one light novel contest or something in Japan. It doesn't feel right, for some reason. It feels like canon defilement, though I doubt I'm actually changing canon in the old world. Anyways, today I'm going to be present for the latter half of Episode 2. I didn't get to see any of that rooftop conversation Madoka and Sayaka had with Homura, but I'm guessing that from what Mami told me, nothing changed. Homura must be confused as to why I'm suddenly present in this timeline and not in any others. Well, not me. Perhaps I share more with whoever Azuma Inubouzaki was before I came to this world than I realize._

"Okay, gang," Mami said to them all as they stood outside the music store from the other day. "We're back at the music store." She then pointed to Sayaka and Madoka. "Show me how you two got caught in the renovated rooms upstairs."

"Sure thing," Madoka said to her, pointing towards the direction she took to get upstairs. "I first heard Kyubey calling for help from around that area. I just kept following the voice from there." The four of them then walked into the store. As Madoka led the way, Azuma couldn't help but look around the store to see if anything had changed since he last came to it.

Finally, after some searching, they made their way to the closed-off second floor. As Mami emerged first to the dusty floor, she grabbed her soul gem and looked at it. "Yep, we're definitely catching a trail." She then showed the other three her soul gem. "When it starts sensing magical residue, it begins to glow and pulsate like this. This means we're getting closer. While on patrol, we hunt only by foot, using this to determine if and where we found any sort of witch activity. In this case, it's highly likely the witch moved ad left a trail. All we have to do is follow it. Witches tend to not move so fast, so we'll easily be able to catch up to it."

"Sounds pretty easy," Sayaka noted as the four of them walked on the trail the witch left behind.

"Not quite," Mami replied. "Trails will fade away after about a day or two. We caught this one in the nick of time."

* * *

As they continued their trek over a bridge, about half an hour after arriving at the mall, the sun began to set. Azuma looked over at Mami and found himself seemingly caught in a trance as the sunlight reflected off of her, making her almost glow. _"Something keeps drawing me to her. I tell myself to fight it, but..."_

Mami noticed this and asked him, "Hey, are you okay?" She was confused as to why he was seemingly staring her down.

"Oh," Azuma replied, startled. "Sorry... I was looking over at the sunset." He quickly turned away, blushing.

The blonde smiled. "Ah. I must say, it's particularly pretty this time of year." She then turned to Madoka. "Isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah." Madoka had been thinking about Homura when Mami interrupted her. "Sure... It is." She thought to herself, _"Is... Is Homura really a terrible person, or is there something hidden we don't know about?"_

"If you don't mind answering," Sayaka asked of Mami, unsure of how she would react to her question. "How many people have you rescued from barriers or whatever they're called?"

"I've been a magical girl for about two years now," Mami began as she thought to herself. "So... Hmmm... I'd estimate about 30. I have a book at home of my saves, but I can't remember off the top of my head." She then sighed as her tone became more somber. "That same book also lists people I couldn't save. That number I do sadly remember off the top of my head, and it's 8. Going through both parts of the book helps me sober up to some of the realities a magical girl faces at times."

Madoka said to the blonde, "That sounds so sad."

"It's fine," Mami assured her. "I've accepted that this is a business where you will see death stare you right in the face. The only thing I can do is not let it get to me, because if I do, it will only hurt me and the people I'm supposed to protect."

"Sorry I asked, "Sayaka replied, feeling that she brought the whole mood down.

"You're fine," the blonde told her as she patted her on the shoulder. "I don't mind answering those questions, especially for newcomers like you and Kaname-san. Anyway, to change the course of the conversation, I can tell you where you can find traces of magic residue."

Azuma interjected, "It would be places of suffering, right?"

"Correct," Mami replied as she pointed to the road next to them. "You'll find it at bad accidents, so I like to go to busy intersections. From there, I can go to the red-light district, since drunk idiots like to fight there over the corner girls there, and suffering of course exists from both customers and prostitutes. I will say that on more than one occasion, I've been offered money to do certain things by some of these creeps because they think I'm one of them, especially when I haven't transformed back into my regular clothes yet. Thankfully, they all have enough basic human decency to run away when I tell them I'm a third-year junior high schooler, and I'm gonna call the police on them for trying to have sex with a minor." The four of them then paused to laugh.

Sayaka said as she collected herself, "That's a great way to get creepy old men off your back, Mami-san!"

"That's fucking great," Azuma replied as he hi-fived Mami. "Got any interesting stories?"

"As a matter of fact," the blonde replied as she wiped her eyes of tears from laughing so hard. "I do. This one time, it was early into my career, and it was my first trip into the red-light district. Now, Inubouzaki-san, I'm sorry if you're uncomfortable about girls talking about their bodies and stuff, but you'll have to bear with me here."

"I'm perfectly fine with that," Azuma assured her, wanting to hear her story as he gave her a thumbs-up.

"Good," Mami replied. "So, I was an early bloomer, okay? I got my period the month I turned 11, I always looked older than most people in my class, you get the gist of it. On my first patrol in the red-light district, I just got out of a barrier, and I hadn't transformed back yet. I had turned 13 a week ago, so I was very young. This guy comes up to me and asks if I'm "ready for the appointment." Apparently, he thought I was this second-year in high school he was doing this "compensated dating" thing with, and that I was in a cosplay of some random anime character. I tell him he's got the wrong girl, and just as I'm about to use my magic to wrap up his mouth shut, the actual girl he's paying comes up in her uniform." By now, the other three were laughing once more. "He apologized to me, actually, and even paid me 4000 yen to keep my mouth shut about the confusion. He was definitely creeped out when he realized I actually was 13, but I guess he had no qualms about doing compensated dating with a 16-year-old girl even though he was like 30-something. But hey, he paid me to do basically nothing, so I can't entirely complain."

Madoka said to her, "That's funny and all, but what exactly is compensated dating?"

Sayaka looked her straight in the eye and quoted right from Game of Thrones, "Oh, my sweet summer child... Madoka-chan, you're too innocent at times."

Azuma then explained to her, despite the weirdness factor, "It's when some older dude pays a girl to basically date him without calling it prostitution. High school girls and even some in junior high may engage in it, though it's much rarer than some people want you to think. It's creepy as hell, and even moreso when it's a girl our age or even a few years older being courted by some guy in his 30s or even 40s, or even older."

Madoka looked in horror at the realization of what it could mean for the girl. "Oh... That's... That's disgusting... I can't imagine doing that with a boy my age, let alone one twice my age."

"Exactly," Mami replied as he patted Madoka on the back for comfort. "Don't worry, though. With me, you'll be safe from any threat, witch-made or man-made, male and female, and anything in between. Anyways, moving on from that area of the city, the other big spots I look at include spots where people like to go to commit suicide. As I mentioned the other day, witches may be the cause for some suicides, especially those that seem to happen out of nowhere. Then, there's the hospitals. Those are the absolute worst, because the witches there drain the life force of helpless people who are already weak from illness or injury." Suddenly, she felt her soul gem pulsate again. "Huh?" As she looked at it, it glowed intensely. "It must have picked up on a recent trail. We're close by." She then pointed to an abandoned building that was about 4 floors tall nearby. "It must be coming from that direction! Let's go!"

The four of them then bolted for the building. Azuma thought to himself as they ran, _"This is the building that woman jumps off of in Episode 2! This is the real deal!"_

As they ran to the front, Mami looked once more at her soul gem, which glowed even brighter now, and told them, "There's no questions about it. We're here!"

Sayaka then gasped as she looked up and pointed to the roof. "Oh my God! Look!" as the gang looked up, they saw a woman in a business casual outfit standing on the ledge of the building, looking down and getting ready to jump.

Azuma called out to her, yelling, "Ma'am, stay put! We're sending help to you right now! Whatever you do, do NOT jump!" He knew his words would probably be in vain, but felt that he still had to try.

Sure enough, the woman jumped anyway. Madoka called out, "Oh no!" Mami immediately transformed with the snap of a finger as she looked up at the woman. As soon as she finished, she summoned several ribbons to create a blanket for the woman to land on, cushioning her fall and stopping her from hitting the ground. As the woman fell slowly to the ground, falling asleep as she did so, the other three ran to Mami to look.

"A witch's kiss," Mami said to them. "Of course." She then got up. "She'll be fine. She's just asleep right now. Let's focus on the witch now that we have her out of danger." Madoka, Sayaka, and Azuma all looked to each other and nodded before running in with Mami.

As they looked around at the decrepit building, Azuma noticed writing on one of the walls that inexplicably was in German. _"I don't think they ever explained why this was here in the show."_ He then said to Mami as he pulled his crowbar out, "I got my crowbar out. I'm ready."

"Good," Mami replied. "Bring it here and I'll modify it a bit. Same with your bat, Miki-san." As she grabbed their weapons, the entrance to the barrier suddenly opened at the top of a staircase in front of them. "You won't get away this time."

Sayaka looked in amazement as the bat changed shape. "Woah! That's so cool!"

"It'll help it," Mami explained as he walked up the stairs. "Now, I want you three to stay with me and under no circumstances leave me, okay? This is a dimension that is immediately dangerous to life and health. Sticking together saves lives in here." She then hopped on through the barrier's entrance.

Azuma followed her in first, yelling out, "INUBOUZAKI AZUMA HAS NO WEAKNESSES!"

The bluenette with the baseball bat said to Madoka, "He seems confident." The pinkette nodded. Then, Sayaka charged in, yelling, "HERE I COME!"

Madoka then timidly followed in behind her, unsure of how to handle herself in the barrier. She thought to herself, _"This will either go really well, or end really badly."_

The portal led to another longer set of stairs in the barrier, flanked on all sides by rows of various familiars all dancing and seemingly ignoring the four of them. As they ran up, Azuma looked around and could not help but pull his phone out with his free hand to start taking pictures. He thought to himself, _"In a way, the world within the barriers of a witch is so beautiful. These things really do take your breath away in person."_

Then, at the top of the stairs, Mami reached her arm out to get the others before her to stop. "Hold on!" She noticed that at the top were several flying familiars. "I got this!" She quickly used her ribbons to summon forth a musket to despatch the familiars with ease. As they were vaporized by the bullets, Azuma got his crowbar ready just in case.

As they went along the complex maze within the barrier, going through various doors, corridors, and windows, Sayaka and Azuma began to put their weapons to use, bashing some familiars as they tried to rush the four of them. At one stop, Azuma grabbed a familiar with his bare hands and dragged it towards him to beat it across the head with his crowbar, causing it to disappear after hitting it several times. This startled Mami, who has just despatched another familiar by way of musket. She asked him, "Are you crazy?!"

"A little," he replied as he wiped away sweat from his forehead. "Just a little."

Eventually, they got to the final obstruction in their path. Before them was a giant field of Anthony-class familiars, all wildly dancing with scissors. Mami again held her arm out to keep the rest of the team back. She then held her other hand up to summon forth 10 muskets, enough to kill all the Anthonys. As the muskets loudly fired, the other three covered up their ears. Sayaka yelled out, "Those things are loud as hell!"

"They sure are!" The blonde then turned around with a smile on her face. "Okay, they're all gone! Let's go get the witch." To get to the witch, the gang would have to open several brightly-colored doors in their way. Thankfully, this time, there were no obstacles in their way.

Once they finally reached the witch's lair, Azuma looked out beside Mami as Madoka hid slightly behind Sayaka. Azuma said to Mami, "That's our witch, huh? It's just like my cousin described, all deformed and all." The witch had large wings and a head covered in roses and bushes. Seeing it up close for real made Azuma realize just how deformed witches looked like compared to seeing them animated.

"Indeed," Mami replied. "Kyubey, do you have a name for this one?"

"I do," he replied to her. "This witch is referred to as Gertrud."

"Got it," Mami replied. "So, what do you girls think?"

Sayaka was disgusted by the appearance of the witch. "It looks ugly."

"Are you really gonna fight that?" Madoka was worried for Mami's safety.

"I'll be fine," the blonde reassured all of them. "I don't lose." She then summoned ribbons to separate the rest of the team from her to protect them. "I'll be right back!"

As she jumped down to fight the witch, Azuma filmed on his phone. "I gotta get this on video. This looks incredible!"

"I can't blame you for doing that," Sayaka replied, looking at his viewing screen. "My phone's kinda dead, so I can't do it." She then chuckled.

Suddenly, just as it seemed that Mami had it all under control, she was tied up by a band of lights and constricted by the witch, causing her to scream out in surprise. Azuma yelled out, "Tomoe-san! Mami!" He had just called her by her first name for the first time since he came to in their world.

Then, the witch slammed her into a wall, causing it to crack and buckle, before suspending her above her mouth. At the moment where the entire team feared the worst, Mami opened her eyes and gave a smile. "I'm alright! I can't let myself look uncool in front of my friends, after all!"

As she began to unwind herself from her binds, Azuma looked on, knowing exactly what would happen next. _"Time to see her ultimate attack in person!"_

Mami summoned her largest weapon, a giant musket that looked more akin to a cannon than a gun. As the witch struggled against ribbons summoned by the blonde to restrain it, she smiled and said, "It's over." She quickly aimed it at Gertrud and shouted, "TIRO FINALE!"

The sound of the gun was akin to a volcano going off, and reverberated throughout the whole barrier. As the bullet pierced straight through Gretchen, it screamed out in pain. It then shook violently before it began to disappear. Once it did, it dissipated as Mami landed calmly on her feet, a teacup in her hand. As a Grief Seed landed next to her, she took a sip of tea and smiled, another witch taken care of with relative ease.

Azuma stopped filming on his phone and called out, "That was amazing, Tomoe-san!"

Sayaka agreed with, "You won! That was so cool!"

Suddenly, to the surprise of Sayaka and Madoka but not to Azuma, the witch's barrier around them disappeared, giving way to the empty corridors of the abandoned building they were in. As Mami transformed back to her regular self, she admired the sights around her. "You know, I've always wanted to do some urban exploration at some point."

"Same here," Azuma replied, interested that Mami was into such a thing. "I've been interested in urban exploration myself for a while."

Mami then picked up the Grief Seed. "Remember how I said that magical girls can get rewards? This is that reward. It's a Grief Seed, basically the egg of a witch."

Madoka, concerned, asked, "Is it dangerous?"

"Not at all," Kyubey replied. "In fact, in that form, it is very helpful."

"Indeed," Mami replied. "Just watch this." She hen pulled her soul gem out with her other hand. "Notice that it's a bit duller than last night? Well, watch this." She then placed the Grief Seed next to her soul gem, causing a black mist to travel from her soul gem to the Grief Seed, removing any impurities in the soul gem. "And just like that, everything is back to normal once more."

"So cool," said Sayaka, still in awe over how magical girls worked.

Mami then suddenly threw it into a darkened corridor. "It's good enough for one more use, Miss Akemi Homura."

As the black-haired girl herself walked out from the shadows, the thrown Grief Seed in her hands, Sayaka said to her, "What do you want with us?!" She still was hostile with her, thinking she wanted to harm Madoka.

"Take it back," Homura said, completely ignoring Sayaka's remark. "It's your kill." She then threw the Grief Seed back to an annoyed Mami. "I'll probably see you around at some point later." She then turned around and walked away. "By the way, I will keep telling you this: that boy does not belong." Azuma was getting more and more annoyed by her disparaging remarks about him.

"She bugs the hell out of me," Sayaka remarked. "What's her deal?"

Madoka, still having some hope in reconciliation, asked, "Why can't we just be friends?"

"She has to want to be friends," Mami replied to her. "Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case."

Azuma thought to himself, _"You have no idea how wrong you are about that, Mami."_

As she continued to walk away from the group, Homura spoke under her breath, "How troublesome." She thought to herself, _"Mami-chan, you're wrong. I want to be friends like when we first met so many loops ago. It pains me to have to fight with anyone Madoka cares about, but especially you, given you were her friend and protector in that first timeline. If I can get you on my side, that would make things so much easier."_

 _ **(JOURNAL ENTRY: EPISODE: THAT SOUNDS WONDERFUL)**_

I _witnessed Mami kill Gretchen, which was cool. She moves so elegantly in battle. I'm pretty sure I kinda ruined the shots I took of the video of the fight because I was so mesmerized by her. It feels like every move she makes is a work of art-_

 _Wait, why am I writing so much about that?_

 _Anyway, that will be the end of the happy parts of this world. Up next is the fight with Charlotte. I want to try to stop her death, but I don't know if I'll just either get myself killed or save her but trigger something worse that happens later in exchange for her not dying. If I do decide to let her die, I don't know if I will be able to live with myself. Part of me wants to skip that fight and be told of it after the fact, but another part wants to go to it and see it up close. I will have to decide whether to act or just watch when I get to that point. Whatever it is I decide, I do it not out of any malice for her or for anyone._

 _Homura is getting on my nerves. I never thought I'd say that. What the hell did I do to get her to call me not wanted? She should know that random things can happen in her time loops. Wasn't Kyousuke a guitarist instead of a violinist in a few loops for no fucking reason? Say, speaking of him, I gotta figure out how I'm gonna approach that mountain when I get to it, if I get to it, assuming it still happens. I'm a man of culture, and by that I mean I ship yuri pretty hard, but at the same time, I don't wanna risk the chance that perhaps Sayaka and Kyouko aren't actually into other girls. Maybe I could try to hook up Mami with Kyouko, assuming I manage to prevent the former's death._

 _Okay, I realize now that given that I'm interacting with these characters as real people, perhaps shipping them like that is less fun and more along the lines of fucking creepy. No matter. I can still be the ultimate wingman if I need to be._

 _On a more serious note, this is when shit gets rough. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I cannot escape, and that unlike Homura, I only get one chance to change this world for the better. Fuck it, I'm gonna take it if it's the last thing I God damn do._


	4. What Do I Do?

"You know," Mami said to Azuma as they walked back to their apartment building together after school. "Witch-hunting isn't supposed to be fun. It's dangerous. But..." She then chuckled. "I can't help but enjoy it. It's a rush when you're in there, especially when you know you're helping people."

"Don't feel bad about it," he assured her. "It's not anything to be ashamed of. It's a rush just to watch it. I can't imagine what it's like to actually do it." He then looked forward towards the apartment building. "Looks like we're almost home. My parents told me to tell you that you're free to stop by at any time, by the way."

"How nice of them," the blonde replied. "Maybe I will sometime. I bet your parents are nice people." Azuma could tell there was a slight pang of sadness in her voice, probably related to her own family situation. "If mine were still around, they'd get along with you well, even if my dad would be a bit protective." She chuckled in a way that hid her sadness. "That's how dads with daughters are, I guess."

Azuma thought to himself, _"Should I ask her about her family now, or wait for Madoka to bring it up later?"_

* * *

As the four of them walked home from another successful night of hunting, Mami asked Madoka and Sayaka, "So, have either of you made a decision yet?"

The silence from both of them was deafening to Azuma as he pondered how to possibly ask Mami about her past if Madoka did not. "I take it that's a no from them?"

"Yeah," Sayaka replied. "We really haven't thought of it." She shrugged. Azuma could tell there was something else on her mind.

"Perhaps it would help if you told us how you made your's," Madoka innocently said to Mami, causing the latter to stop dead in her tracks. "I... I'm sorry if that's a difficult question."

"It's fine," the older magical girl reassured her. "In my case, it was different. I was involved in a serious car accident on National Route 508. We got blindsided by another car, and then we flipped and caused a tractor-trailer to swerve and hit a bus." She then sighed. "It was the worst accident on the 508 since it was built, and among the ten dead were my parents. I should have been the eleventh, but as I laid there in the wreck of my car, Kyubey jumped up and offered me another chance at life. It was either that, or die."

Azuma could not help but feel empathy for her, given the situation that had landed him into her world in the first place. "I'm so sorry, Tomoe-san."

"Thank you," she replied. "If you have the chance to think about it, take as much time as you need. I didn't have that chance, but I don't regret it. After all, I'd rather be alive than dead."

"This is all hypothetical," Sayaka then suddenly interrupted. "But, if I wanted to, could I use a wish to help someone else? Like, if they were in a worse spot than I was?"

Kyubey immediately knew what she was talking about. "Is this about Kamijou Kyousuke?"

"No!" Sayaka tried to deny it, but it was clear that neither Madoka, Kyubey, or Azuma believed the denial. "It's not about him!"

"Miki-san, hold up right there," the blonde then interjected. "While there's nothing against the rules about it, you should be very careful. Are you truly doing this for their sake, or so they are forever in debt to your sacrifice?" She was adamant, as of something about the bluenette's question bothered her or reminded her or something... or someone.

"Calm down," Sayaka replied to her, taken aback by her forcefulness. "It's just a question."

"Sorry about that," the blonde replied. "I was a bit too forceful, I guess. I just wanna make sure you know what you're getting yourself info before you make a choice. When it comes to this, there are no stupid questions, trust me."

"I say that the sooner you make a decision, the better," Kyubey added, earning a glare from Azuma that surprised him. _"I wonder why that human boy gave me such a dirty look. Does he know something the other's don't?"_

Mami laughed it off. "Oh, come on. Girls don't exactly like pushy boys, after all." She then lightly gave Azuma a playful push. "Isn't that right, Inubouzaki-san?"

"Yeah," Azuma replied, surprised by the blonde's push. "That's right. I'm not pushy, right?"

"Of course not," Sayaka replied. "You're fine. Madoka-chan, you don't mind Azuma-kun, right?"

The pinkette shook her head and smiled. "Not at all!" She thought to herself about Mami's behavior, _"I don't know why, but it feels like Mami-senpai enjoys being around Azuma-kun a lot. It can't really be love or anything like that, since they haven't known each other for long, but there is something there."_

* * *

Later on, as the two of them walked home and neared a fountain, Mami suddenly held her arm out to stop Azuma. "Wait..." She then transformed her soul gem into a ring as she looked around. "Something doesn't feel right. I just don't know what."

Suddenly, they got their answer as a girl behind them said, "You know..."

Azuma jumped in fright, startled by Homura's presence as he clung to Mami, making the blonde blush. As he took a few deep breaths, he said to her, "Hey, c'mon... You scared the fuck out of me..."

"My apologies," Homura coldly replied. "Anyways, you realize you're putting innocent civilians in danger, right?"

Mami turned around to reply to her. "They got canvassed by Kyubey. They're not civilians anymore, Akemi-san."

"You're trying to lead them on into being magical girls," the black-haired stoic replied. "Especially Kaname Madoka."

"Okay then," Mami replied to her, crossing her arms. "What exactly is wrong with that? I see you notice Kaname-san's great potential, too."

"Under no circumstances," Homura sternly told her. "Is Madoka to be allowed to make a contract, and I will ensure that that stays that way."

As the two continued to talk, Azuma thought to himself about Homura's point of view, based on his prior knowledge. _"Mami doesn't realize it, but Homura is right. It's not about the fear that Homura will have to deal with a magical girl stronger than her at all. I don't think she gives a shit about that."_

As the conversation ended, Mami said to Azuma, "Come. We're done here."

"Ah, yes," he replied as he followed behind her. He began to grow more and more worried, and was pondering about how to intervene in the story line next. _"Mami's death is next. I need to make a decision sooner rather than later as to whether or not to let the plot take its course or save her."_

* * *

 _ **(JOURNAL ENTRY: EPISODE: I'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING ANYMORE, PART 1)**_

 _After much thought, I have a plan._

 _I know, that sounds shocking, but hear me out._

 _I'm gonna go with Madoka to the hospital where Kyousuke is. She will meet Sayaka there, assuming nothing changes. From there, we will run into Charlotte's grief seed. Thankfully, unlike in the proper canon where those two have to run off and find Mami, I already have her cellphone number. All I need to do is give her a call and she'll be over sooner. From there, I'll let Mami and Homura argue, which will lead to Mami tying Homura up._

 _The fight should proceed as normal. However, as the fight goes on, I will have to find a way to sneak off and get Homura. My father, well, in this universe, has a sharp switchblade. All I need to do is conceal it and hope nobody takes it from me. I asked Mami earlier if knives could cut through her ribbons, and she said yes. As a fun side note, she apparently carries one with her at all times, just in case she has to cut herself from her ribbons due to a mistake, or if she needs to cut a bitch I guess. I just gotta cut Homura, tell her what's going to happen, and then we'll swoop in and save her, hopefully in time._

 _I only have one chance to do this._

* * *

For the day, Azuma decided to hang out with Madoka and wait for Sayaka to come back from the hospital. This, of course, was strategic, since he knew they would run into Charlotte there. As the two sat, they talked about school. Madoka asked him, "Say, Inubouzaki-san, how are things with Mami-san?"

"Huh?" Azuma was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well," the pinkette replied. "As a girl, I think it's best for you to know that I have a good feeling that Mami-san really enjoys being around you. When you're not around, she tells me that you always brighten her day, just like me and Sayaka-chan. She looks forward to walking to school with you every day, and walking back as well."

The young man paused. _"Wait... That means... Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit..."_ "I see," he replied nervously. "Tomoe-san is a great person, and I also enjoy spending time with her."

Then, Sayaka walked out of an elevator. Madoka waved hi to her. "Sayaka-chan, over here!"

"Sorry for the wait," the bluenette replied. "Kyousuke-kun wasn't available today, I guess."

As the three of them walked from the hospital outside, Sayaka noted to Madoka, "And to think, I came all the way out here. Eh, you can't always win." Then, she noticed that Madoka had stopped to see something. "Huh, what is it?"

"I see something," Madoka said as Kyubey eyed in on it. "It's weird."

The incubator immediately recognized it. "It's a Grief Seed! It's about to hatch!"

Azuma immediately pulled his phone out. "I'll call Tomoe-san!"

As he called Mami, Sayaka said to Madoka, "We can't let it go off in a place like this. Somebody has to stay here and watch it."

"That's far too dangerous," Kyubey warned her. "It's fine for now, but once it hatches, we'll be trapped!"

"I'm willing to take that risk," the bluenette confidently replied. "Not only for my friend Kyousuke, but for everyone else here, too."

Azuma then got off the phone with Mami. "She's on her way! Madoka-chan, you and me will meet up with her and guide her to here. Sayaka-chan, you stay here with Kyubey and watch the seed. Mami-chan's orders!" He then realized that he had changed honorifics for the three of them.

However, it seemed that none of them noticed as Madoka said, "On it. Inubouzaki-san, let's go!"

* * *

About half an hour later, the four of them had begun to travel into the barrier of the witch. As Mami led them along, she said to them, "Glad you guys stuck to orders. This way, we'll put an end to this witch befo-" As she turned around, she stopped and stared at something behind the group. "Akemi-san?"

Madoka looked and asked her, "Homura? Why are you here?"

"I thought I made myself clear," the blonde sternly told the visitor. "You were not welcome in my presence."

"I can take this witch on," the girl replied to her as she sized up the gang. "You don't have to pressure yourself."

"I don't need help in this case," Mami replied back, now getting annoyed. "It's literally a brand new witch. These things are easier than taking candy from a baby to kill. Besides, how can I trust you?" She then extended her right hand out as her ring glowed.

Suddenly, ribbons with chains printed on them sprung from the ground, tied to a lock. As they wrapped around Homura and restrained her up above the ground, she screamed at Mami in rage, "YOU'RE MAKING A HUGE FUCKING MISTAKE! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS BULLSHIT!"

Azuma was taken aback by her sudden vulgarity. _"She wasn't swear-happy in the show. Is my presence heightening the tension? Anyways, Homura is right. Mami's making a mistake."_

"You can stay there until I'm done with this witch," Mami coldly replied as she turned around and waved the gang on. "Come, we have a witch to kill." As Homura struggled against the ribbons, the gang marched on. The blonde said to Madoka and Sayaka, "I'm sorry you had to see that."

Sayaka shrugged. "It's fine. It happens, right?"

"Indeed," the blonde replied.

After travelling through several passageways and exits, the gang made their way to an odd passageway. Around them were the shapes of medicine bottles, all with illegible tags and labels. It was clear that this witch was inspired by the scenery of the hospital. Of course, only Azuma and Homura knew the truth as to why the witch did so. As they walked, Madoka asked Mami, "Hey, um, so I was thinking about the wish I want to make, and would you like to hear it?"

"Sure thing," Mami warmly replied to her.

"It may sound a bit selfish or naive, though," the pinkette said back. "So, I've never been that special, really. I never excelled in school, and I always seemed to ask for help. I can't really stand it anymore. I want to be able to help others like they have helped me." The gang then entered another passageway that was a bridge that went across a dark river below. "Then, I met you, Tomoe-san."

Sayaka added to the conversation, "Are you gonna get sappy?"

"I may," Madoka laughed it off. "Anyway, you showed me that you help people every day, and when I found out I could do that, too, I was overjoyed. So I guess my wish is to be able to help others."

"It won't be easy," the blonde replied as she turned around. "It's dangerous. It's physically demanding. You may have to give up time with your friends for it. You won't have time for-..." She then paused as she looked at Azuma. When he noticed this, she looked away and shook her head. "Anyways, you get it."

"I know, but after seeing how you fight, I'm willing to accept that. I really look up to you." That last sentence made the whole gang come to a halt as Mami looked down at the ground below her feet.

Azuma said to her, "Are you okay, Mami-chan?"

She immediately looked at him with surprise. "Mami-chan?" She then sighed. "Kaname-san, Miki-san, Inubouzaki-san, I'm flattered, but... I think you three need a better role model than me. To be honest, I'm not fearless at all. I just pretend to be cool and level-headed most of the time. In reality, I'm afraid many times." She then wiped her forehead and eyes. "Since I've been alone in my quest, I have no one but myself to cry to and vent to."

"But you're not," Azuma interjected, immediately realizing he had stolen a line from Madoka, but not caring. "You're not alone. You have the three of us."

As the blonde began to cry, she said, "You're right..." Suddenly, she grabbed a hold of Sayaka, Madoka, and Azuma as Kyubey jumped off of Sayaka's shoulder and watched. As she pilled them in for a group hug, tears fell from her eyes. "I've found comrades who are willing to fight by my side. No... Not comrades... I've found _friends_ who are willing to be by my side!"

Madoka said weakly to her as she patted her back, "You're hugging pretty tight!" She was crushing the three of them with her arms.

Mami chuckled and let go of the three of them. "Sorry about that..." She then wiped her tears. "Anyway, I'm so happy that I've found a group like you three. From now on, I won't work solo anymore." She then sighed as she finished wiping her tears. "I bet you didn't expect to see your role model break down like that, huh?"

"It shows you're human," Sayaka assured her. "It shows that you're not some unfeeling robot."

Suddenly, Kyubey interrupted them. "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm feeling something off. I think the Grief Seed is about to hatch nearby!" He then pointed in the direction where he thought the Grief Seed was. "I think it's over in that general area somewhere!"

"Alrighty then," Mami replied as she stuck her right hand out again. "Let's do this. I won't be afraid anymore!"

As Mami transformed, Azuma thought to himself, _"I know what I must do now... The time has come to make my decision, and I've made it..."_ "Mami-chan..."

The girl looked at him and replied, "What is it?"

"Before you battle," he suggested. "You should scope out the whole room. Don't new witches tend to have rather disorganized barriers compared to older ones? I don't want any unwanted surprises jumping out at you."

"As a matter of fact," the blonde replied as she thought to herself. "They do... Sounds like a good idea, Inubouzaki-san."

The gang then ran to the room that contained the witch, which was filled with various candies, sweets, and fruits. As they all gathered behind a giant doughnut, Sayaka looked around and asked, "Hey, where's the witch?"

"I think it's there," Azuma said as he pointed to a weird-looking orange juice carton in the sky a few yards away from them. "That orange juice carton thing looks like it's moving." He then looked down at the doughnut and asked Kyubey, "By the way, is any of this stuff real?"

"I believe so," the alien replied.

Azuma eyed out the doughnut and took a small chunk of it. As he bit into it, he nodded. "Yep, it's real, and it tastes great!" The other three then laughed.

"It's too bad we have to kill the witch," Mami jokingly replied. "She has good taste in food. Maybe we can scavenge some before the barrier disappears."

Then, the orange juice carton exploded with a flash of white as Charlotte appeared and floated down into a tall chair below her. The witch looked exactly as how Azuma had imagined it based off of the show. Madoka said, "It looks like a stuffed animal."

"It's far more dangerous than one, that's for sure," Mami replied. "Before I go attack it, I'm gonna take your advice and scope out the room. Don't want any familiars making an unwanted visit, after all."

Azuma, realizing his chance, began to sneak away from the gang. As he slowly made his way back to the bridge passageway, he continued to look behind him to make sure neither Madoka nor Sayaka saw him. Once he shut the door behind him, he grabbed a switchblade from his pocket and bolted down the bridge. _"I have to reach Homura in time!"_ His heart was racing, and he ran faster than he ever had before in both the old world and the new world, not even breaking a sweat due to the adrenaline running through his body.

It surprisingly did not take him long to reach her, only taking about a minute. He hoped that Mami was still alive by then thanks to his suggestion. As he ran to her, Homura called out, "What happened?! What's going on?!"

"I'm here to free you," he replied as he opened up the blade and began to saw away at the ribbon. "I think Mami let her confidence get to her this time. We need to hurry up!" As he broke through the ribbons, Homura began to loosen up. It did not take long for her to fall from the ribbons, Azuma catching her to break her fall.

"Thank you," the black-haired girl replied to her. "Now, let's hurry." As the two ran back to the room, Homura transformed in a quick flash of light. "What's the situation right now!"

"I managed to slow her down a bit by telling her to scout the room before directly confronting the witch," Azuma replied to her as they ran into an open doorway. "She's probably delivering the first blows now."

"Good work," Homura replied. "You know, perhaps you're not that bad. You seem to care for Madoka, Sayaka, and Mami, and not some random boy with perverted thoughts." Azuma gave her an annoyed look in response. "Hey, I'm just saying." The two then finally made their way to the room where the battle was going on. "We're here!"

As the two looked, Azuma realized what was about to happen and screamed, "STOP!" The second form of Charlotte had just appeared, and it was staring down a shocked Mami. Instinctively, he ran out into the field of fire as Homura tried to reach for him and failed, cursing herself for missing. As the boy ran up to her, much to the absolute shock of Madoka and Sayaka, he grabbed a firm hold of her shoulder and yanked her away from Charlotte's jaws as it attempted to bite down on her, its teeth barely missing Mami's right arm as they both fell to the ground.

Homura ran out and called out, "Inubouzaki-san, are you alright?!" She then turned to the witch and threw a grenade in its mouth. As it exploded, the witch was blown back and screamed in pain.

Azuma adjusted his eyes and realized his left arm and hand were firmly on Mami's chest. As he recoiled in embarrassment and blushed, he helped the blonde up, who was still in shock at the events that had just transpired before her. "Mami-chan! Are you okay?!"

Mami then turned to him and said, "I... What happened?" She then realized that someone else had accompanied him, and turned to see Homura fighting Charlotte. "Why... How the... How did she get out of her restraints?!" She tried to move forward to deal with both the witch and Homura, but Azuma grabbed her by the shoulder and held her back.

"Let her take care of it," the boy replied. "You're still in shock, Mami." Then, they both saw the witch explode as Homura calmly floated down to the ground, having dispatched the witch to the afterlife with relative ease.

As Madoka, Sayaka, and Kyubey ran out to meet them, Homura revealed the Grief Seed dropped by Charlotte in her hands. "You need it more than I do. Take it, Tomoe Mami."

The blonde's expression turned from shock to anger as she replied back, "How the FUCK did you get out of your restraints?!"

Sayaka said to Madoka, "I've never heard her swear before like that. She must be really angry." Both were surprised by Mami's use of vulgar language.

"Isn't it obvious?" Homura pointed to Azuma. "Your savior did with that switchblade of his. If it weren't for him, that witch would have bitten your head off, and you'd be dead."

The blonde went up to Azuma and got in his face, pointing to him and yelling, "I thought I made it crystal clear that she was NOT to mess with us until AFTER I took care of this witch! I'll deal with you later!" She then turned to Homura again. "You do NOT have the right to barge in like that at all! I had this thing under control! I could have gotten myself out of this mess!" Her eyes were filled with unbridled rage.

"No, you couldn't have," Homura retorted. "You were frozen in fear and shock, Tomoe-san! If we hadn't intervened, you would be dead, and that's the truth!"

"ENOUGH!" Azuma stepped in between them, putting his arms out to separate the two. "Please... Enough... It happened. Just get over it, please..." He was breathing heavily, tired out from the previous events.

"He's right," Madoka chimed in. "Normally, I don't chime in on fights like this, but I have to this time. Please, I don't want you two to fight anymore." She was deeply concerned for both Mami and Homura. "Tomoe-san, just take the Grief Seed from her. You need it."

The blonde looked over at her. "Kaname-san..." She then sighed and grabbed the Grief Seed from Homura. "Thank you." As the barrier around them began to disappear, both she and Homura de-transformed. The gang then found themselves in front of the same hospital as before, only now they were in a different area of the surrounding park that was deserted. As Sayaka and Madoka looked around, Mami asked Homura, "Why? Why did you save me?"

"I save anyone in a barrier if I'm able to," Homura simply replied to her as she walked away calmly. "I'll leave you four be now."

Azuma then looked over at Mami, who was still staring at Homura, dumbfounded. "I... Did I..." She then fell to her knees. "Oh my God... She was right..." The boy immediately ran to her side as she began to cry. "I got in way over my head and almost died..."

"Mami-chan," the boy replied to her. "You're okay now. The witch is dead."

Madoka said to the two of them, still half-wondering what had just transpired as the sun began to set, "Tomoe-san... No... Mami-chan, are you okay?"

The blonde then looked over at her, tears filling her eyes. "You called me... You called me Mami-chan, too..." She then began to openly sob as the full force of just barely avoiding death hit her. "I almost left you all alone! What kind of a friend am I to recklessly abandon safety?!" As she continued to sob, Madoka, Azuma, and Sayaka all hugged her, comforting her as she let out her feelings.

* * *

 _ **(JOURNAL ENTRY: EPISODE: I'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING ANYMORE, PART 2)**_

 _I did it._

 _I saved Mami._ _Granted, I did cause her and Homura to almost rip each other apart, and I did possibly leave Mami with PTSD, but she lived._

 _The four of us are closer than ever now. I know what I must do now._

 _I have to fight to prevent the suffering they would otherwise endure, even if it kills me. I'm willing to give up my second chance on life to save their lives. I owe it to whatever higher power there is that, for some odd reason or another, granted me this new life. I will do whatever it takes._

 _On another note, there is absolutely no doubt that Mami thinks of me as more than a friend. Thing is, I'm not willing to actually go there. It would just feel so wrong to me. After all, I was an 18-year-old fresh out of high school not too long ago before that stereotypical car crash thanks to Truck-kun and his fucking moron of a driver. It would just feel too... I can't fucking describe it. Point is, I'd rather not try to woo her or anything. Hell, the NSFW artwork I've seen of her even feels off now, knowing that she is a real person in this world. Still, there are times where I can't help but admire her. If she was in my old world when I was in middle school, I'd be all for dating her._

 _Speaking of the old world, I wonder how my family reacted to my death there. I miss them, even with all the good and bad here, and I can't imagine them not missing me. You know, they never seem to bring that up in isekai stories. Whatever the hell happened to their old friends and family?_


	5. Ave Maria

The next day, Mami and Azuma walked to school, trying to pretend that nothing had happened. Even so, as they walked along the city streets, it was clear that the battle still got to Mami. _"That battle with Charlotte did a number on her. She's completely changed. She's quiet and has kept to herself for this entire walk."_ As they rounded a corner, he asked her, "Mami-chan, are you-?"

"I'm fine," the blonde interrupted him. "I know I seem quiet and reserved now, but trust me, I'm fine. We have school to worry about anyways." Her tone of voice made it clear that she was holding back something, but Azuma chose not to pursue it. The blonde thought to herself, _"I'm not fine... Ever since I came back to my apartment, I've been crying and asking myself why I let my guard down. Because of my recklessness, I nearly got my friends killed. Am I really a good person if I let my guard down like that?"_

During the midday break at school, Madoka, Sayaka, Mami, and Azuma were uncharacteristically quiet around each other, only contemplating to themselves about the events of the day prior as Kyubey watched in curiosity. Then, Madoka broke the silence with, "This whole place feels so foreign now. Nothings changed here at school, but everyone feels like foreigners now."

"Welcome to my world," Mami spoke up. "No one but us knows what we know. We really only have each other, if you think about it. Nobody else can understand what we do."

Sayaka then sighed. "Mami-san, about yesterday, look, we-"

"I know," the blonde interrupted her. "You don't blame me, and that's fine. Say, Kaname-san, Miki-san, do you two still want to be magical girls after what happened?"

Both of them were understandably reluctant. Azuma noted depressingly, "If I was a girl, I would be reluctant, too." Of course, Azuma was much more than reluctant, given his knowledge.

"I understand," Mami replied as she looked down. "I'm almost reluctant to even fight. It's selfish, I know, but... I fear that I may jeopardize the people around me if I do." She then sniffled as tears began to fall. "Just remembering what happened... I... I shouldn't b acting this way, but I'm scared... For the first time in my life since the accident, I'm so scared of leaving the people in my life behind..." Azuma then comforted her with a hug.

Madoka told her, "Mami-san, you can do this. Don't let this one failure discourage you."

"She's right," Azuma whispered to her as they split. He then spoke up with, "Mami-chan, right now, the shock is still there, but trust me, you'll get back up on your feet."

* * *

Later that day, as Azuma came back to the apartment building from a local gaming tournament, he noticed Homura behind him and turned around at the front door. "Huh? Akemi-san?"

"Your presence isn't normal," the girl bluntly told him. "How did you have the foresight to rescue me?"

"It was common sense," Azuma firmly told her in reply. "Anyone with the same tools would have done the same thing."

Homura sighed as she hung her head and facepalmed in annoyance. "Ugh, I don't believe you one bit, and I'm going against my best judgement by doing this, but I need you to stick with Madoka when I can't be there. If a civilian is present, maybe Mami-san will be less likely to act reckless."

"Perhaps you're right," Azuma replied. "Why do you keep suspecting me of being the bad guy or something anyway?"

"Mami was supposed to die against Charlotte," Homura explained bluntly to him. "In every timeline-" She then froze as she realized her mistake. _"Oh, fuck! I let it out!"_

Azuma realized that she had accidentally leaked out her powers, but tried to play it off. "Timeline? Huh?"

"Forget it," Homura shushed him hurriedly. "All I'm saying is, it's not normal for a civilian, much less a boy, to get involved. It just aroused my suspicions, that's all. I've seen far too many instances of girls like Mami not end up so lucky, enough to give up on counting."

"I know that if she did die," Azuma told her. "That witch would have eaten her body. She would be forever missing here."

"Correct," Homura confirmed. "Her closest living relative is her uncle on her father's side. It would have been a while before she was reported missing. Magical girls do this job thanklessly and with little to no remembrance. The only extant list is one maintained online, but it's rather underground and is far from complete."

"Wait, what? There's an online database?" Azuma was curious. _"I don't remember this in the anime."_

" ," Homura told him as he typed in the URL. "It was set up back in 1997 by a team of girls from America. They've all long since died, but a roving group of girls keeps it going. The Memorial page lists all known magical girls, their names, their dates of birth and death, and their cause of death. They acknowledge on the top of the page that the list will never be complete."

Azuma was saddened by the list, which was broken into sections organized by decade. At the top was the message, "THIS SECTION IS TO BE LEFT BLANK FOR THOSE MAGICAL GIRLS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE LINE OF DUTY WHOSE NAMES ARE KNOWN BUT TO GOD. MAY THEY ALL REST IN PEACE AND RISE IN GLORY." He skimmed down the list and was astonished by how long it was. "This is awful."

"It is," Homura replied. "But it's the risk we take."

"I know one thing," Azuma told her confidently. "If you or Mami-chan ever, God forbid, end up dying like this, your names will be on here. You won't be forgotten. Me and Madoka-chan and Sayaka-chan will make sure of it!"

* * *

At the hospital later that day, Sayaka sat by Kyousuke's side as he listened to music. "Hey, Kyousuke-kun, what are you listening to?"

"La Fille aux Cheveux de lin," he replied. "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair. It's by Debussy."

"I like his works," Sayaka noted. "You know, everyone thinks I don't like classical music. They get all surprised when I rattle off a bunch of songs and symphonies and the like. Of course, the reason is you. You taught me all I know about classical music, and beyond."

"Tell me, Sayaka," Kyousuke then said to her in a condescending tone. "Are you trying to mock me?" As he took his headphones off, he looked her straight in the eye. "Why must you continue to give me music to listen to when I can't play it anymore?!"

"Wait, what?" Sayaka was now growing worried. "Kyousuke, you're..."

"Damn it," Kyousuke moaned. "I can't do this anymore!" He then reached his arm up and made a fist before smashing the CD player on his bed, splattering blood and shocking Sayaka.

"Kyousuke-kun, no!" Sayaka immediately reached over and grabbed his arm, preventing him from self-harming any further as she began to cry. "Please, don't hurt yourself any more!"

"I can't even feel pain," Kyousuke replied. "My hands are worthless! Even the doctors told me to just give up. With current medical science, recovery is impossible. Unless magic is real, stick a fork in my life, because I'm done!" He then wiped his tears with his cut hand, smearing some of the blood on his face.

Sayaka thought to herself, _"You know what? I need to go the distance and do it. Fuck the consequences, I need to make the contract."_ "Kyousuke, they do exist! I can prove it!"

Kyousuke then looked at her and sighed. "Sayaka-chan, I'm... I'm sorry for the way I acted to you just now... But, how can you prove that?"

"I just can," Sayaka assured him firmly. "Just trust me on this one, please." She then got off the bed. "By the way, uh, you probably should get that bandaged."

"I guess you're right," Kyousuke replied as he looked at his cut-up hand.

Kyubey, unseen by Kyousuke standing on a windowsill, asked Sayaka telepathically after witnessing the entirety of the previous events with curiosity, "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?"

"Fuck yes I do," Sayaka replied telepathically. "Damn it, Kyousuke needs me."

"You are certainly very enthusiastic," he replied. "I like that."

* * *

At the same time, Mami and Azuma decided to enjoy a night on the town to get their minds off of the battle with Charlotte. Mami laughed at a funny story Azuma had told her as they sat on a bench in a park. "That sounds amazing. I wish my elementary school friends were like that."

"Yeah," he replied. In his mind, the thought to himself, _"That didn't happen in the old world, but I remembered it in this world. Maybe I really am a combination of my old self and Azuma."_ He then felt his phone vibrate. "Huh?" As he answered it, he was met with a panicked call for his name. "Madoka-chan? What's wrong?"

"It's Hitomi-chan from school," she whispered over the phone. "She got kissed by a witch and she's taking me to some thing. There's a whole bunch of people with her, too."

"Alright," Azuma calmly replied. "Stay on the phone with me until help arrives. What's the address of your emergency?"

"I'm at the old warehouse near the dockyards," Madoka replied. "The number on the building I think is 7-1."

"Okay," Azuma replied. He then turned to Mami. "Madoka-chan's in trouble. Just follow me." Mami nodded as they both got up. "Madoka, you have Snapchat, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, I need you to enable yourself to be tracked by your friends." Azuma guided Madoka through the call as he and Mami ran. "Is it enabled?" Azuma put her on speaker phone so Mami could overhear.

"It is, thank God! Hurry! All these people are saying they're worthless and depressed!" Madoka then paused. "Oh... Oh no, one of the ladies is mixing chemicals together! It's a God damn suicide pact!"

Mami uttered under her breath, "Shit!"

"Okay, Madoka, I need you to not try to go near the chemicals. Do not touch the chemicals." Azuma then opened up Snapchat to see Madoka's location before he turned to Mami. "We're a few minutes away!" He then turned back to Madoka. "Do not go near them!"

"That may be too long!" Mami was now worried sick.

Azuma heard Madoka shout before a loud bang was heard, as if someone got punched hard in the stomach, before coughing was heard. Hitomi was overheard saying, "Do not interrupt us, Madoka-chan. This is a holy ritual."

Madoka then weakly said, "Hitomi-chan punched me hard in the stomach... Agh..."

"Madoka, stay on the line with me, do not hang up! How many people are there with you?"

"About 10 or 15," Madoka said as she got up from the ground. "Screw it, I need to stop them!"

"Madoka, listen to me! Do not attempt to destroy the mixture! It can make you very sick or cause problems for the doctors!" Azuma knew she wouldn't listen to him, but tried to warn her anyway. He then heard the sound of Madoka picking up the bucket of chemicals and throwing it out of an open window. "Madoka, what happened?"

"I threw it out the window, and now they're coming for me!" Madoka by now was deathly afraid.

"Okay, do any of them have weapons?"

"One has one of the bottles used I guess," Madoka replied.

"Try to go into another room and barricade the door if possible. Do not attempt to leave the room until help arrives." Azuma remained calm and collected the entire time he was on the phone with Madoka as he heard her go into another room and lock the door. "Are you in another room?"

"Yes, thank God." Madoka then breathed a sigh of relief. However, her relief then turned into horror. "Oh no... Oh no! This is a witch's barrier! It's the same witch that infected them! No! No! Oh, God, no! Somebody help me! They're grabbing me! The barrier is surrounding me!" The line then went dead.

"Madoka?! Madoka! Madoka!" Azuma then hung up and cursed loudly, "Motherfucker, I lost her!"

Mami then asked him, "How did you learn to be so calm?"

"My mother was an emergency fire dispatcher," Azuma explained to her. _"In both my old world and in this world, though here fire and police are separate dispatch centers. She's a fire one here."_ "I got too hear her in action a few times, and I picked up on some stuff."

"You could do a great job at that," Mami complimented him. "Anyways, we need to hurry!"

"I'll call Sayaka!" Azuma then dialed Sayaka's phone number.

Sayaka cheerfully answered with, "Yello!"

"Sayaka-chan, where the hell are you? Madoka's in danger!"

"I had a feeling you'd call about that," Sayaka replied with. "You see, I already know of it. In fact, I'm almost there. I can actually help this time."

Azuma's heart sank as he realized what she meant. _"She... She made a contract anyway, even after Mami lived! Now I gotta deal with her!"_ "What do you mean?"

Mami instantly knew what she meant. "Sayaka-chan, don't tell me you-"

"I made a contract with Kyubey," Sayaka immediately replied. "I'll explain later! I gotta go!" She then hung up.

Azuma turned to Mami and asked her, "I gotta feeling that Kyousuke guy has something to do with her contract."

"Same here," Mami replied as they reached the dockyards. "She's a brand new magical girl. She's gonna need backup." As they reached the bridge to the warehouse, they stopped to catch their breath and wipe the sweat off their foreheads before Mami extended her left hand out. However, as she was about to trigger her transformation, she froze in a sudden onset of fear. "Wait..." She then began to hyperventilate as she retracted her hand. "Oh no!"

Azuma stepped in immediately, asking her, "Mami-chan, what's wrong?"

"I... I'm afraid," Mami said in disbelief as she screamed in frustration. "Damn it, why at this time?!"

"Hey, listen," Azuma told her. "You'll be fine. Trust me. With Sayaka-chan on your side, that witch will have twice the problems to deal with." He then patted her on the back. "The city needs you, Tomoe Mami."

The blonde then took a deep breath and stood up to begin her transformation in a bright flash of light. As she finished, she turned to Azuma and asked him, "Inubouzaki-san, don't get hurt, please." He then nodded before the two ran into the building, ready to face their next opponent.

As they ran in to the dark warehouse, they saw the crowd gathered near the door Madoka had barricaded themselves in as they saw several bright blue flashes of light come from the window. Azuma pointed it out and said, "Sayaka-chan must already be fighting the witch! Let's get this crowd off that door!"

"On it," Mami replied as she shouted and waved. "Over here! We're willing to join your cult!" Immediately, the crowd turned away from the door and began to slowly make their way to them. "I got you all right in my sights!" She then jumped up and summoned ribbons before she individually tied up each member of the group one-by-one with a quick motion, dodging swings and kicks with ease as she restrained them all. It only took about a minute before all 17 people infected by the kiss were on the ground, restrained and unable to move.

Azuma looked out and said to Mami, "Nice job. Now they won't bother us anymore."

Then, the door to the other room burst open thanks to Sayaka as the witch's kisses on the victims began to disappear. Mami snapped her fingers to make the restraints disappear. Sayaka, now in her magical girl outfit, helped walk Madoka out. "Hey guys! You missed an epic battle in there!"

Azuma noted her outfit in his head. _"It looks pretty good from a real-life perspective, if not maybe a bit revealing."_ "Sayaka-chan, I can't believe you actually did it!"

"I know, I know," Sayaka replied before she laughed. "I guess I had a change of heart."

Mami then walked up to Sayaka and asked her with deep concern, "Miki-san, what did you wish for?"

"Oh, well," Sayaka began to explain. "Kyousuke-kun had a really bad day today, and I guess I had enough with him being depressed and stuff." She then shrugged and gave a half-hearted smile. "I kinda wished for him to heal...?"

"Oh my God," Mami replied. "You youngsters with your crazy wishes." She then sighed and gave a smile to the bluenette. "Oh well. Welcome aboard, Miki Sayaka!"

Azuma then asked Madoka, "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Fine," she replied as she brushed herself off. "Thanks for being on the phone with me. I'm sorry I didn't do as you say."

"It's fine," he assured her. "You're okay, and that's all that matters. I did my part, and you did your's."

Suddenly, a voice interrupted all of them. "So, you made a contract..." As Homura walked into the room from outside, the gang's eyes focused on her.

"You're a bit late, transfer student." Sayaka then drew her sword against Homura.

Mami drew a musket from her ribbons as she told her, "Akemi-san, please, don't make me use this on you."

"I don't want to seek trouble," Homura told them all. "I just want to protect Madoka. I backed off when I saw that you had the situation under control, Sayaka." She then turned to Azuma. "Inubouzaki-san, remember what I told you." She then suddenly disappeared from sight.

Mami turned to Azuma and asked him, "What did she tell you?"

"She wants me to stick with you and Madoka," he told her. "She thinks that if I as a civilian am present, you'll be less reckless or something."

"Damn it," Mami replied as she looked over in the direction that Homura had stood with disdain. "Pardon my language, but fuck her. I'm not gonna let my fighting style hurt any bystanders. Who the hell does she think she is?"


	6. A New Face

"Pardon me for how tired I am," Hitomi told Sayaka, Madoka, and Azuma as they all sat together.

Sayaka asked her, already knowing the answer, "What's up? Didn't catch enough sleep last night?"

"Not at all," Hitomi replied as she chuckled. "Dealing with the police and the fire department was a hassle, and then along came the hospital, too."

"You were in that whole mass hallucination thing," Azuma replied, referring to a media report on the incident that had occurred the day before. "I'm glad you're okay, Shizuki-san."

"After all that," Sayaka added. "I probably would have just stayed home from school to get some rest."

"Nah," Hitomi brushed her off. "I'm not really sick or anything. I just gotta go in for another test after school, and I'll be all set."

As Madoka continued to listen in, she noticed that Homura was staring her down from the other side of the classroom, and began to feel uneasy. _"She's staring at me again... What do I do?"_

* * *

Later that day, Azuma and Mami talked as they returned home. "That was a close call with Kaname-san and Miki-san. I'm just glad nobody died."

"Same here," Azuma replied as he then noticed a fly had landed on Mami's hair. Almost instinctively, he stopped her and very finely and gently brushed part of her hair to get it off. As Mami watched in a sort of trance, he looked down at her slightly, him being a good few inches taller despite being a year behind her, before he realized what he had done. "Wait, what?"

Mami laughed. "You just stopped me and brushed me hair for whatever reason!"

"Well," Azuma replied as he blushed. "There was a bug on your head and I wanted to get it off!" He then sighed. "I... I'm sorry."

"You're fine!" Mami then calmed herself down from her laughter and patted him on the shoulder. "You're not gonna hurt me or anything. Besides, if you tried, you know I could probably kill you before you had the chance to actually injure me, right?"

"Oh I know," Azuma assured her. "I know." He then thought to himself, _"It definitely seems like I'm getting a more uncensored look at the Madoka Magica universe, like if the characters weren't bound by content restrictions or some shit like that. I like this more honest Mami." If she occasionally swears, I really gotta know how Kyouko talks."_

* * *

"Well," Kyouko Sakura said to herself as she spied on Sayaka from an observation tower. "Would you look at that? So that blue-haired girl's the new one, huh?"

"Indeed," Kyubey replied from behind her. "She signed up only a few days ago. Even with her addition, though, having a fourth magical girl in Mitakihara wouldn't be a bad idea, which is where you come in."

"Who are all those people with her, and who the hell is that guy in the wheelchair?"

"The guy in the wheelchair is an old friend of her's," Kyubey replied as he walked towards her. "I don't know much, but I do know he got in an accident when he was younger, and it messed up his hands. Miki Sayaka used her wish to heal them."

Kyouko sighed as she realized what Sayaka had done. "Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me. She used her wish for THAT?!"

"You're not gonna fight her, aren't you?" Kyubey was somewhat concerned about her recklessness.

"Like hell I won't now," the redhead replied as she removed her soul gem from the tower viewer. "A magical girl who does something that stupid is a liability, not an asset. Besides, she's probably shit at fighting compared to me."

"I wouldn't underestimate her," Kyubey warned Kyouko. "She performed admirably in her first fight."

"Fighting witches is a totally different ballgame than fighting another magical girl," Kyouko retorted. "She won't know what hit her when I kick her ass. I just gotta worry about the other two, but I can take care of them."

"Even Tomoe Mami?" Kyubey asked a question that struck a nerve with her.

Kyouko sighed. "Yes, of course even her. I have no business being that bitch's ally anymore, anyway. She chose to walk away from our friendship and burned that bridge."

* * *

Azuma waited outside of the same restaurant the girls had frequented in the show, using his notes to deduce when Homura talked with Madoka. Then, at the same time he had predicted Homura would walk out, she did just that. As she shut the door behind her, she turned and was startled by Azuma, who was leaning on a wall nearby. "Oh, it's just you." She wondered what he was doing. "Are you stalking me? I'm not interested in dating you or anyone else."

"I know you talked to Madoka-chan in there," he explained to her. "And I'm not interested in you that way, anyway, but that's a topic that can wait. What I need to discuss now is what you told her."

"Sayaka-chan is a lost cause," Homura replied to him. "Her personality is a giant weakness, and it will get her killed."

"You know for a fact that it does not have to be that way," Azuma retorted. He then took a deep breath as he prepared to drop a bombshell. "Don't be afraid to tell me the truth about magical girls, Akemi-san, because I know."

"You wouldn't," she replied. "Few would, much less a boy."

"Magical girls are the main source of witches," Azuma finally told her. "You know that without proper intervention, Sayaka-chan will turn into one."

Homura gasped as she took a few steps back. "How... How do yow know?!"

"I did my digging," he replied, giving her little to no more explanation. "But I also know that just because one day it will happen does not mean it should happen so soon. Whether you like it or not, I'm going to find my own way to ensure Sayaka doesn't witch. If you doubt I can, just think back to how my quick thinking saved Mami-chan's life. She was supposed to get her head bitten off and then eaten by Charlotte."

Homura was unable to dispute Azuma there. "I can't argue with that."

"You need to realize that caring for Madoka doesn't mean only caring about her," Azuma continued. "If possible, you need to look after other's she cares about, and do what she wants within reason. Speaking of which, that brings me to that thing I mentioned earlier." He then smiled. "Akemi-san, I know you would never be into me, but I don't think you're not interested in anyone."

"Madoka and I are only fr-"

"Cut the shit," he cut her off. "I see how you look at her. Akemi-san, you don't have to be afraid to admit it to me. I'm not going to out you to anyone." His tone became much more kinder and understanding. "Akemi Homura, there is little doubt in my mind that you have sexual and romantic feelings for other women, specifically Madoka. I can pick up on it in men and women pretty easily. Being LGBT can be tough, but you don't have to do it alone and keep it to yourself."

Homura paused as she processed Azuma's words. She then took a deep breath. "You're right. I have a crush on Madoka, and I like girls that way. Are you happy?"

" _You_ should be," Azuma replied to her. "I can tell from your tone of voice that you've been holding onto that for a while. It isn't healthy to keep it in like that."

* * *

Later that day, Azuma, Mami, Sayaka, and Madoka, accompanied by Kyubey, all went on patrol together. As they came up to an alleyway between two buildings, both Mami and Sayaka's soul gems began to glow. Mami said to her, "Looks like this is it. Ready to rock?"

"You bet," Sayaka replied.

Then, a small and simple barrier formed around them, with crayons and crude drawing scaling the walls around them. Kyubey told the gang, "This is probably a familiar's doing."

"I still gotta be careful," Sayaka replied to him as the four of them walked in. "Familiars turn into witches if they're left alone long enough."

Then, all four stopped in their tracks as the stray familiar appeared, flying around in a small airplane and laughing maniacally. Mami said to Sayaka, "Ready, Miki-san?"

"Absolutely," the bluenette replied as they both began to transform into their magical girl states. After they completed, Sayaka spawned a variety of cutlasses around her. "Mami-san, wanna take the first shot?"

"Nah," she replied. "I'll leave this to you. You young kids need the experience." She then laughed as Sayaka chuckled and then threw the cutlasses at the familiar, striking it several times and causing it to scream in pain.

Then, just as it looked to be over in seconds, several swords were blasted away by a spear that Mami recognized. Sayaka shouted, "Hey, what the hell?!"

"Oh no," Mami said to herself. "Not her..."

Then, before the four of them was the same girl from the observation tower. She stood before them, putting her spear away as the barrier and the familiar ran for safety. "Okay, what the fuck, dude? Are you really wasting your energy for that?"

"It's getting away," Sayaka shouted as she tried to run for the familiar. Mami grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her dead in her tracks as the blonde locked eyes with Kyouko, both of them giving each other a death glare.

"Kyouko, we meet again." Mami sighed. "I'd rather we not, though."

"Stay out of this," Kyouko warned her sternly. "This is between me and this rookie." She then turned to Sayaka. "Listen, bitch, that's a familiar. There's no reason to fight it."

Sayaka was enraged by her name-calling. "Really? Are you being serious right now?! It's gonna kill someone!"

"It's gotta eat like 4 or 5 people before it witches," Kyouko explained. "Then you can fight it."

"She can fight whoever she wants to fight," Mami retorted. "Is it really bugging you that much?"

"Again," Kyouko retorted. "Do you mind pissing off?" She then looked over at Azuma and Madoka. "You brought two civilians with you, including a boy? Really?"

"They are my friends," Mami replied as she walked up to Kyouko, who seemed hesitant to try to push her back. "They deserve to know what I do, even him. I know it's taboo to let guys in on what we do, but he has a family past with magical girls! Besides, how much harm is there in letting one or two who we're close with know, anyway, huh?"

Sayaka, confused, asked, "Wait, that's a taboo?"

"It is," Kyouko explained. "It's a _huge_ taboo! We aren't supposed to reveal our forms to any men except those who are trapped in barriers. They would never understand us, anyway. We are better off associating with only other magical girls. Why else do you think so many of us are gay?"

Azuma spoke up with, "Wait, really?!"

Mami then sighed. "It is true that among us, there is a much higher percentage of lesbian and bisexual girls than in the regular population, but it's not the rule. I never got why so many magical girls got upset if one dared to have any sort of somewhat close friendship with a boy, or date one if you really wanna get ostracized."

"Enough of this shit," Kyouko replied as she spawned a barrier to keep Azuma and Madoka out. "I'll just have to fight both of you. Rookie, you don't understand the food chain at all. The witches eat weak humans, and then we hunt them. The weak have to submit to the strong, after all." She then chuckled. "Please don't tell me you believe your own bullshit about justice and saving people." Azuma got his phone out and began to record, earning a confused look from Madoka.

"It's not bullshit," Sayaka yelled as she tried to slash at Kyouko, only for her sword to be stopped by Kyouko's spear. As she continued to struggle against the spear, trying to hold her own, she turned to Mami and asked her, "Can you do something?"

Mami was hesitant. Despite her own animosity with Kyouko, she was unable to actually bring herself to aim a gun at her. "I..."

"What's the matter? Afraid?" Kyouko began to taunt Mami. "What if I made your friend dance?" She then turned her spear into chains and whipped Sayaka away, causing her to fly into a wall and break a water pipe.

Mami yelled out, "Miki-san!" However, she was amazed that Sayaka began to get up and brush the seemingly critical injury off. "No way! You should have been...!"

Kyouko looked over and remarked, "That should have put her in the hospital for the next three months."

Azuma remarked to Madoka and Kyubey, "She must have healing powers. That's good."

Kyubey confirmed with a worried Madoka, "Since Sayaka wished for someone to be healed, she possesses the ability to heal quickly."

"Come on," Kyouko taunted Sayaka. "Do something" She then wrapped Sayaka up in chains and threw her against the wall again. This prompted Mami to finally get involved when she fired a shot at Kyouko's spear, the bullet bouncing off. "Huh?!"

"Enough," Mami ordered her. "Stop it, or I will aim at your soul gem next time. I don't want to, but if you attack her again, you leave me no choice."

Suddenly, a voice called out, "That won't be necessary!" Homura then suddenly appeared in the middle of Kyouko and Sayaka, forcing both of them apart. Masdoka gasped as Azuma continued to record the fight on his phone.

Mami said to herself, "She's really gotta stop startling people like that."

Kyouko turned to her and noted, "I get it. You must be the other magical girl here. What's your power, huh? Time travel? Teleportation? How else id you get here so fast out of nothingness?"

"You're not that far off, actually," Homura replied as she brushed her hair.

Sayaka was now annoyed by the mere presence of Homura. "Damn it, stay out of our way!" As she tried to rush past her, however, Mami grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her. "Mami-chan, let go!"

"No," the blonde replied. "That's enough."

Kyouko asked Homura, "Okay, I gotta know. Who's side are you on?"

"Rational thinking," Homura coldly replied. "That, and whatever side is opposed to morons who pick fights for no reason. I have a feeling you're on that side, Sakura Kyouko."

"Fuck you," Kyouko retorted. "How the hell do you know my name, anyway?"

"Perhaps we've met somewhere before," Homura alluded to her. She then shrugged her shoulders. "I've met many magical girls before."

"Whatever," Kyouko replied as she walked away. "This is too confusing. I'm getting the hell outta here." As she left, Azuma stopped recording and put her phone away.

Madoka asked Homura, "Why? Why did you save Sayaka-chan?"

Homura sighed and turned around to face all four of them. "I've told you all this already many times. Stop trying to get Madoka involved, all of you."

Mami was concerned about what she meant. "We should know why you're so concerned. We deserve to know."

Azuma thought to himself, _"Ohhhh no, you do not!"_

"You cannot handle why," Homura bluntly told Mami. "I know from past experience with people like you." She then disappeared from sight, astonishing all of them.

Sayaka noted to herself, "We can't handle why?"

* * *

 ** _(JOURNAL ENTRY: EPISODE: CAN YOU FACE YOUR TRUE FEELINGS?/THIS JUST CAN'T BE RIGHT)_**

 _This is the part where it gets really heavy. I need to act now, and fast._

 _Kyouko x Sayaka is one of my favorite pairings, and yet it feels like trying to make that happen won't be possible. The way Kyouko and Mami interacted makes me think the former has feelings for the latter that aren't reciprocated. Against my heart and probably better judgement, I have decided that the most I can do to try to stop Sayaka's witching is to pep talk her when the time comes and she finds out about the truth behind soul gems. If I can just get her to realize she's not a zombie, that removes most of the initial problem. If it results in her getting together with Kyousuke, so be it._

 _These aren't just characters anymore._ _These are real people, with real feelings and desires._

 _I can't engineer them to go with what my heart says. Walpurgisnacht comes in about two weeks. The time for messing around is over. The time for action is now._

 _I wonder how Hitomi will react if Sayaka and Kyousuke become a thing. I just hope that whatever her reaction is, it isn't harsh. Then again, there's literally nothing she could do that could make the situation any worse, save becoming a magical girl herself._

 _..._

 _Fuck, she's gonna do just that, isn't she?_


	7. Of Course She Did

The day after the fight with Kyouko, Mami and Azuma walked to school together as usual. However, halfway there, she stopped Azuma in the middle of a sidewalk. "Hey, Inubouzaki-san."

"Huh?" Azuma turned around and stopped in his tracks.

"There's something I need to tell you about Sakura-san," she explained to him. "That redhead you saw fight Miki-san." As she sighed and prepared herself, she turned her face slightly away to the sky. "Me and her used to be best friends. We both contracted at the same time, but it would be a year before we met. For a while, the two of us got along very well. Then, though... We had a falling out I'd rather not get into much detail about. Ever since, we've been at odds."

"I can tell," Azuma noted. He thought to himself, _"I already knew all of this, but it's interesting to hear it from a character's perspective."_

"The last thing I want is Miki-san being dragged into this," Mami worriedly followed up with. "Just because we can't get along doesn't mean that she has to fight her."

Azuma then decided at that moment to break some news to her. "Mami-chan, I don't want to cause panic, but I know through an anonymous source that in two weeks, a major disaster will befall Mitakihara." _"I might as well tell her now."_

Mami was puzzled by the sudden change in topic. "Major disaster? In two weeks?"

"A witch more powerful than any other before it," he explained. "Its name is Walpurgisnacht. I'm sure Akemi-san may come to you eventually about it, but I need to tell you before then. It will unleash a level of destruction equivalent to a tsunami or earthquake when it comes, and unless all magical girls in the city come together to kill it, it will level the city and everything and everyone in it." He did not want to be blunt with her, but had no other choice.

Mami was stunned by the revelation. "That powerful?! No way!" She immediately put her bookbag down and grabbed a small notepad and a pen. "Tell me its name again. I need to write down as much info as I can about this witch."

...

Later on in the day, Azuma and Sayaka went on a patrol for the same familiar that she had tried to hunt the day before. Madoka and Mami couldn't make it due to prior commitments, so the two went alone aside from Kyubey. Sayaka looked around the alleyway and expressed frustration as she found that the familiar was nowhere in sight. "Not even any trace?"

"No," Kyubey replied. "It's far too faint to track."

"God damn it," Sayaka yelled out. "This is all that redhead's fucking fault!" She then kicked the ground in anger. "Now that familiar is gonna turn into a witch and kill someone!"

"Calm down," Azuma tried explaining to her. "I know you're angry, but-"

"But what?!" Sayaka then turned to her. "I have the right to be angry! I get it now... Mosf magical girls are like Sakura Kyouko and Akemi Homura... Mami-san is an exception, and Akemi-san almost let her die because of it."

That one sentence turned Azuma'a concern into anger. "Sayaka, be very careful about what you say next. You know that's not true. You saw Mami tie her up."

"That wouldn't have mattered," Sayaka tried explaining to him in her madness. "She still would have sat on the sidelines and let her die had you not come in and saved her."

"She would never," Azuma replied to Sayaka as he took her by her shirt and picked her up, frightening her. "Now you listen to me, and you better listen to me God damn good, Miki Sayaka. Mami-san, you, me, and Madoka-chan would all be dead if I hadn't cut Mami-san's ribbons and freed Homura-chan. Without that, my intervention would have only delayed the inevitable by a few seconds. You owe your life to her, and this is how you thank her?! By trashing her and spreading those lies?! Look, I can agree with you on Sakura-san, but the next time you say that shit about Homura-chan, I am going to rip you a new asshole, I swear to God. She may not be the best person, but she cares enough about Madoka that she'll go out of her way to save those she loves." He then paused as he realized Sayaka was frozen in fear. As he let her down, he took a deep breath.

"You..." Sayaka was now shaking in response to what he had done.

"I... Perhaps I overreacted." Azuma then sighed and shook his head. "Again, though, don't go around trying to fight people on a lie you created in your head. Fight Sakura-san all you want, but don't fight Homura-chan."

Sayaka paused and looked at him for about half a minute as she tried to form a response, but found the words to be escaping her. Then, she found them. "Whatever. That transfer student isn't my highest priority anyway. It's that redhead."

...

The next night, Azuma had snuck into Madoka's house after she texted him and asked him to help her with English homework. She was not doing well in the class, but Azuma had been excelling, and figured that she should ask him for help. As the two looked over her homework on her computer in her bedroom, she typed in a correct answer and smiled.

"Nice," Madoka said. "Where did you pick up on English so well?"

"Family," he explained, invoking yet another lie to cover up where he really came from. "My aunt taught me it." Changing subjects somewhat abruptly, he asked her, "Not to get off-topic, but have you ever thought about dating? I'm not asking for myself at all, but because I know someone who's kind of interested in a girl, and I want to give them advice."

"Like from a girl's point of view?" Madoka was confused by the question posed. "Are you sure you're not lying?"

"I'm not," Azuma replied. "If anything, my eyes are set on someone else, but nevermind that. So yeah, I was looking for that point of view."

"Well," Madoka replied as she thought to herself. "I... I haven't really considered it. I would largely base my answers off of what I know about my parents. They met in middle school, but didn't start dating until high school. He didn't have to do anything really special to get with her. He just had to be her friend, and then one day, the feeling became mutual." She then chuckled. "I'm kinda glad it did, because otherwise I wouldn't be here."

Suddenly, however, both were interrupted when they heard Kyubey in their heads. _"Madoka! Azuma! Hurry!"_

As they turned to the windowsill, Azuma jumped slightly. "Again, you need to stop surprising me like that."

"Nevermind that," Kyubey told both of them. "Sayaka's in danger! Follow me!"

Azuma immediately knew what was about to happen, and dreaded it. "Oh, fuck." He then thought to himself as he and Madoka got ready, _"This is that second fight. Things are going to go south really fast here."_

 _..._

The two of them, now joined by Mami as well, had just arrived to see Sayaka and Kyouko get ready to duke it out once more at a pedestrian bridge over a highway. As Sayaka was about to transform, Madoka shouted to her from afar, "Sayaka-chan, wait!"

"Huh?" Sayaka turned and saw the three of them behind her. "What are you guys doing here?! This isn't your fight!"

Kyouko sneered when she saw that Mami was among them, "Fucking pathetic! Annoying pests like you do love to bring friends!"

"That's some tough talk coming from you," Homura said as she suddenly appeared from behind Kyouko, startling the redhead slightly. "What friends do you have?"

Kyouko replied to her, "What the-?!"

"I told you to leave Miki Sayaka alone," Homura warned her. "Are you going to break that agreement we made?"

"Your way was too soft," Kyouko scoffed. "Besides, she isn't backing down from a fight."

"Okay then," Homura replied to her as she stepped forward. "I can handle it. Trust me, I could finish her by the time you eat that Pocky stick in your mouth."

Kyouko looked down at said Pocky stick in her mouth and sighed. "Fine."

"Don't underestimate me," Sayaka defiantly told her.

Instantly, Mami rushed over and pushed Sayaka, telling her, "Stop it!" As she fell, her soul gem also fell.

Realizing it would hit the ground, Azuma tried to catch it, but only succeeded in making it bounce off his hands and off of the pedestrian bridge, much to his and Homura's horror. _"That fucking pillow truck better be under it like in canon!"_

Thankfully, it was, as he saw when the truck passed by with her soul gem on it. He breathed a quick sigh of relief as Homura disappeared to grab it in a hurry. As Mami helped Sayaka up, the bluenette said to her, "Mami-san, what the hell was that fo-?"

Suddenly, she collapsed straight into the blonde's arms. "What?! Wha-... Miki-san, oh my God!"

Kyubey ran over and scolded Mami, saying, "Mami, you shouldn't push your friend off a bridge like that!"

Mami, now realizing the connection between soul gem and what Kyubey had just said, let out a few quiet words in shock. "What... Soul gem... Wha-... What the fuck?" She then dropped Sayaka's body as she let out a scream in horror as the full realization hit her.

Azuma immediately ran to her and said, "Mami-chan!" As Madoka and Kyouko crowded over Sayaka's body, Azuma tried to comfort Mami, who was still shaking in shock. "Look, she'll be fine. Homura-chan went to go get her soul gem, okay?"

Kyouko, creeped out by the implications, asked Kyubey, "What the hell is a soul gem anyway?"

"It contains you," Kyubey bluntly explained. "Your bodies are just a vessel. That gem that got pushed off the bridge was Sayaka herself. Her body is just there for convenience."

Kyouko's eyes widened as she realized what he was saying. "You mean to tell me that not only are souls real, but that you ripped them out of us and put them in these things?" She then pointed to her own soul gem on her chest. "Are you insane?!"

"It's perfectly logical," Kyubey explained in his usual emotionless way. "It guarantees better security and well-being. Also, what Azuma said is right. Once her soul gem is returned, it'll be like nothing ever happened. This is rare, by the way, since soul gems retain influence on the body within 100 meters."

Azuma then shook Mami out of her catatonic state. "Hey, Mami, listen! Sayaka's gonna be okay, alright? Homura-chan is gonna get her soul gem!"

"I know that," she replied as she looked at her own soul gem in her ring. "But... The fact that it's even a thing..."

"The fact that it's real doesn't make you a zombie or a lich or any other horror movie monster," Azuma told her. "You're still you." He then pointed to the center of her upper chest. "You still have a heart. You are still a person like anybody else, and a soul gem doesn't change that." Mami blushed and wiped her tears away as he did that while Madoka stared at Sayaka's body in shock.

Kyouko picked up Kyubey by the neck, anger in her eyes, and asked him, "Why the hell didn't you tell us?!"

"You never asked," he simply replied.

"Her soul gem better fucking come back," Kyouko sternly told him off. "Or I swear, I'm gonna murder you."

"Humans cannot kill me," Kyubey also explained. "I reincarnate every time my old body dies."

Kyouko, now seething with rage, screamed as she punted Kyubey off the bridge with a swift kick, "Go fuck yourself, you alien piece of shit! I'd like to see you try that!"

Sure enough, a few seconds later, another version of Kyubey appeared before her. "I told you you can't kill me."

Mami was stunned by the second revelation. "You... You're not allowed in my home anymore. I'd rather be alone for the rest of my life than spend another minute with you by my side! I trusted you with some of my darkest and deepest secrets, because I had nobody! But to hear all of this, well, I can see why Akemi-san despises you!"

"Speaking of me," Homura replied as she walked over. "You can thank me later." She then placed Sayaka's soul gem in her hand. As she wiped sweat off of her forehead, she said, "It'll take a few seconds. Holy shit, that was tiring..."

As Sayaka woke up, Madoka instantly went to her and hugged her. "Sayaka-chan, you're okay! Thank God!"

The bluenette, confused to hell and back, asked, "Okay? What happened? Why is everyone so worried?"

Azuma and Mami looked to each other and nodded. The blonde then said to her, "Miki-san, we need to talk."

...

When Mami got home, Azuma offered to stay at her apartment for the night to help her cope with the news. While she was still saddened, she had settled down and at least was learning to accept it based on what Azuma had told her. Sayaka, on the other hand, was not taking it well at all, and Mami was deeply concerned for her.

As Mami poured herself and Azuma coffee at a table, she said to him, "You didn't have to do this."

"I know," he replied. "But I want to. My parents are okay with it. They trust you."

Mami smiled. "I'm glad they do. They probably think it's weird for an upperclassman girl to do this for an underclassman boy."

"My parents were even farther apart than us," he replied to explain. "My dad was only a first-year in high school when he met my mom, who was a third-year. They kept touch all while she went to college, too, and I was most likely conceived on the day of my father's graduation from high school. It wasn't easy being a young parent, but they pulled through." He thought to himself, _"What a coincidence. My parents in both this world and my old world were like that, though in the old world's case, my dad was in 9th grade and my mom was in 12th grade when they first met."_

Mami chuckled, amused by the story. "How sweet. They seem like such a perfect couple. Maybe I'll find someone like that." After taking her first sip of coffee, she turned to him silently.

"Huh?" Azuma wondered what she was going to do next.

Without warning, Mami reached over and leaned in with her arms, pushing herself onto Azuma, who was surprised and not resisting. She then leaned her head in and locked lips with her underclassman, who again did not resist. As the two made out, Azuma ran his fingers through her hair while Mami placed a hand on his chin. Then, after a full 30 seconds, the two split as Azuma moved a bit away.

"Mami-chan, I..." He then sighed. "You don't have to do this just because we're close or anything. Just because we're a boy and a girl that are friends doesn't mean anything."

"I know," she replied as she called back to what he had told her earlier. "But I want to. Inubouzaki-sa- No... Azuma, I want you in every way, and I love you." She then shook her head. "I've felt that way ever since the fight with Charlotte, but I wanted to give it more time before I just jumped in."

"I had a feeling you did," he replied. "I just... I feel like we're moving a bit too fast. I want to be with you, too, but... I can't go at this pace. I'm sorry."

Mami sighed. "It's fine. I'm sorry I pushed myself onto you like that. I just couldn't hold it in after what you told me tonight. Just... Promise me we'll get to that point eventually, okay?" She then held out a hand.

"Yes," he replied as he shook her hand. "I do."

...

 ** _JOURNAL ENTRY: EPISODE TITLE: CAN YOU FACE YOUR TRUE FEELINGS?_**

 _Looks like I wrote the wrong episode title in last time! Meant to use Episode 5's title!_

 _Anyway, Mami is into me. Holy shit. Hoooooooooooly shit. There goes my KyoMami OTP and plans down the drain. At least I know now that MadoHomu is at least one-sided canon. Back to Mami, I was not expecting that. I don't know what the hell to think. I was 18, almost 19, before I came to this world, and I still feel that age even though I'm an 8th grader again. It feels too weird to be into a middle schooler even when you're in the body of one again when your mind is older, and holy shit I just realized how bad that sounds. I can already hear the FBI or the Japanese equivalent of it knocking on Mami's apartment door demanding to be let in. I swear, I'm not trying to get arrested, and I'm not going to jail._

 _It took a lot of fortitude for me to push the pause button on that. A part of me wanted to just rip her clothes off and go to town, and I'm sure she wanted to rip mine off, too, given how she was. I swear, if we do get to that point, it's going to be messy considering we'll both be bottled up by then. I chose to be the mature person for once and push pause, though, because I don't think she's truly in love. There's a good chance it's just that post-rescue feeling, especially given today's events. She probably is just looking for someone so she won't be lonely. I want to wait a bit and see if it fades away or grows stronger before I commit myself to her, though if things get worse and our time starts to run out, I may just decide "fuck it" and lose any inhibition to be with her._

 _She used "daisuki" on me, which is a sign of that. It means I love you, but it's not the strongest form. If things work out, hopefully it will be "aishiteru" at that point, and it will be on my end, too. Maybe I'll tell her the truth of where I'm from when that time comes. I hope she's accepting of it._

 _On anothercompetlet different and unrelated note, I was NOT expecting Mami to be the one to toss Sayaka's soul gem. Or, well, push Sayaka and cause her soul gem to fall. Glad I let it bounce on my hand, because otherwise it probably would have shattered on the footbridge. Anyway, I gotta deal with that now, and I also have to make sure she gets with Kyousuke. I have made the decision (again, against my own personal shipping tastes) to help her get with the violin boy. Sorry, Hitomi. Please don't do anything rash._

 _Fucking hell, I am just increasing the odds of her contracting, aren't I?_


	8. Get Your Head Together

"You know," Sayaka told Kyubey as she paced around her room. "I never asked for this."

"You humans are all the same," Kyubey scoffed. "Okay, maybe I was being a bit stereotypical, but every human I've told that to reacts the same way. Your bodies are pretty well-built for average life, but not for combat. To keep you safe, I extract your non-physical soul and turn it into a physical form." He then jumped over to Sayaka's dresser, where her soul gem was.

As Sayaka sighed in the darkness of her room, she shook her head. "It feels wrong."

"Say you were impaled by something," Kyubey then told her as he moved towards her soul gem. "Do you wanna know how painful that would be?"

"Uh," Sayaka replied, confused. "I think I can gues- Aaaaaand, now you're touching my soul gem. What's that supposed to d-?" Suddenly, as Kyubey applied pressure to her soul gem, Sayaka felt an extremely sharp pain in her abdomen and fell to her knees as she shouted obscenities in pain. "Holy fucking shit! Stop!" She continued to writher in pain on the ground.

"in one strike," Kyubey explained to her. "You're incapacitated. The reason you didn't feel much pain when you fought Kyouko was because this very system stopped it. Because your body and soul aren't connected, you were able to survive that fi-"

"Okay, I fucking get it already," Sayaka shouted loudly to Kyubey. "Just get off my soul gem!"

"Okay, okay," Kyubey relented as he let go of her soul gem. "See, the pain is gone as if nothing ever happened."

As Sayaka stood up from the floor, she noticed Kyubey was right. "Huh... You're right, it is like nothing ever happened..." Then, she returned her focus towards her anger. "Still, how could you do this to us?"

"You did voluntarily accept to fight witches," Kyubey replied. "In exchange, I granted one wish. That wish has come true, hasn't it?"

The bluenette thought to herself as she pondered that maybe Kyouko was right. _"Has it? Has my wish come true? Or was my wish covering for something else I desired?"_

 **...**

The next day, Azuma noticed Sayaka had not come to school, an unusual sight for her. In a break between classes, he and Madoka talked about it, and both expressed worry for her. "It isn't like her to miss," Madoka told Azuma. "She isn't the best student at all, but she never misses school unless she physically cannot go."

"I know," he replied, wondering if Mami would interrupt them at some point. "Mami-chan was really shaken up by it. The thing is, she really didn't care as much about the soul gem thing as she did about Sayaka-chan's well-being."

 _"You're correct,"_ Mami suddenly replied to both of them through their mental link. _"Right now, Miki-san is the bigger concern."_

 _"I have an idea of where she may be,"_ Azuma then noted to both of them, intending to go to the former Sakura Family Church. _"I just need a way to get out of school early. Mami-chan, Madoka-chan, cover for me."_

 **...**

Having successfully snuck out of school, Azuma had changed out his uniform shirt for his gym shirt, giving off an odd but otherwise unsuspecting look as he stepped off a bus near the ruins of the church. The church was bigger and more exquisite, even in ruined form, in person than he had expected, and as he took photos of the ruins with his phone, he said to himself, "Damn, Kyouko's dad must have been doing really well before he went mad."

As he neared the main hall, he heard both Kyouko and Sayaka conversing with one another. As he heard Sayaka speak, he crept slowly in without either of them noticing. "Honestly, I don't think I pay too big a price for what I got. I think magic can be used for great things, depending on how you use it. Say, that reminds me. How did you pay for those apples? Mind telling me where you got the money for them?"

"Well, uh," Kyouko stammered out as she tried to give an explanation. "You see..."

"I thought so," Sayaka replied with a slight grin. "In that case, I'm not gonna eat those apples. I'm not gonna have any pa-"

Suddenly, both heard a loud bang as a wall panel fell to the ground due to Azuma accidentally knocking it over, revealing himself to a surprised Sayaka and shocked Kyouko. The redhead yelled out, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Well," Azuma replied as he attempted to give a poker face to both of them and failed. "I, uh, kinda cut classes to see where Sayaka-chan was. I figured she was with you, Sakura Kyouko."

"Enough of this," Sayaka replied to both of them. "I'm gonna fight my own way, Sakura-san, and if you don't like it, you're free to come find me and fight me, but don't go easy on me." She then quietly walked past Azuma and out the church as Kyouko tried to contain her rage.

"You fool," Kyouko shouted to her. "We're magical girls! There's nobody like us!" She then sighed as she turned her attention to Azuma. "What the hell is your deal, huh? Why are you trying to hop on this? Are you a badge bunny, but for magical girls, because if you are, I'm not interested."

"I know what happened with your father," Azuma told her. "But that's not important right now. You know what, since you're here, I need to ask you something."

"Everyone knows what happened to my father, dude," she replied to him as she bit down into another apple. "But, of course, nobody cares to think about the daughter he left behind when he murdered my mother and my sister before hanging himself as he burned his church. I was coming back from fighting a witch when I saw the fire engines roll past me. It had been a rough week after my dad found out, and I suspected the worst. I didn't expect him to be the cause, though. So, anyways, how may I help you?"

"That taboo you mentioned," he asked her. "Why? Why is it so taboo?"

Kyouko then put the bag of apples she had down as she walked down to him. Once she stopped, she explained, "Because boys can never be like us. It has been a taboo for as long as I've known there are other magical girls in the world, and I'm sure for much longer. Any magical girl who surrenders her independence like that to someone who can never understand what it's like to be us is asking for heartbreak. You're supposed to understand your partner, right? How can you understand that when you've never lived it?"

"So if you hypothetically dated Mami-chan, it wouldn't be a problem?"

That one question suddenly triggered a few seconds of quiet rage in Kyouko. As she sighed to calm herself down, she replied to him, "Please don't throw a hypothetical like that at me again, but yes, two magical girls dating each other is acceptable. There's a high amount of us who are like that. You know, these talking heads always say that it's the TV or the drugs or the movies or the manga that's making the kids gay, but, of course, it's not. If anything, for us, making a contract is the one thing that would boost your chances of being a lesbian."

Azuma nodded to himself. He then asked, "What if I told you Tomoe Mami broke that taboo?"

"Of course she did," Kyouko scoffed, seemingly not caring. In reality, Azuma could tell there was a slight pang of sadness in her voice. As she shook her head, she continued with, "Mami-chan doesn't know what she's getting herself into. Is it you?"

"It's not," he lied to her. "It's another boy. He has no idea about any of thi-"

"Bull fucking shit," Kyouko interrupted him. "I've seen the way you look at her and how she looks at you. What happened?"

 **...**

The next night, as Mami and Azuma patrolled around the city, the two were mostly silent to one another, still trying to process what had happened last time. As they walked across a bridge, Mami felt her phone vibrate. "Huh?" As she answered it, she saw it was from Madoka. "Hello?"

"Mami-san," replied a panicked Madoka. "I need help! It's Sayaka-chan! She's being too reckless against a witch in the dockyards!" She was clearly in a state of distress, deeply concerning Mami.

Mami immediately replied, "I'll be right over. Stay safe, and keep me updated if anything changes." She then hung up and turned to Azuma. "It's Miki-san. She needs help. Kaname-san says she's too reckless."

"Damn it," Azuma replied. "We have to hurry. What's the fastest route?"

"The buses," Mami replied as she pointed to a city bus that had just stopped at a nearby bus stop. "Hey! Hold that bus! We gotta get on!" She then took Azuma by the hand as the two ran to it and just barely got on in the nick of time. They were the only ones on the bus, which was nearing the end of its route.

As they took their seats, the driver said to them, "Just in time. Where's a nice couple like you two heading off to?"

"The dockyards," Mami explained to him. "We have a friend over there. She's in a bit of a situation right now." She then thought to herself, _"A nice couple... Hopefully, that comes true soon."_

"Hmmm," he replied as he pulled away from the stop. "I actually go out of service soon. I'll run you two over there directly. No need to pay." He then changed the sign on the front of the bus to "OUT OF SERVICE."

Azuma chuckled. "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied. "Friends gotta help their friends somehow." He then sped up the bus to expedite their response. "Hang on!"

The two of them arrived about 10 minutes later, just as Sayaka was wrapping up her now-finished fight. The two ran to them just as Sayaka collapsed in Madoka's arms from exhaustion. Mami immediately called out, "Miki-san!"

As they caught up to them, Madoka told them, "Thank God you're here! Sayaka-chan was going all out on this witch, and she's really exhausted. I'm scared."

Kyouko said to the group, "I had no part in this. If anything, I warned her against it, but she refused to listen. Not to when I told her she should keep the grief seed, not to when I told her to slow down, nothing."

"It's fine," Sayaka weakly replied as Madoka helped carry her down the stairs off the dock.

Azuma turned to Mami and told her, "She's not."

"I know," Mami replied, stating the obvious. "The fact that she wouldn't even take the grief seed is worrying." She then turned to Kyouko. "Give me the grief seed. I'll give it to her."

"Fine by me," she replied, throwing the seed to her. "I don't need it at all. I don't normally take grief seeds from other magical girls because I don't think it's fair. I got other witches to hunt, anyway." She then jumped from the dock. "Call me if anything else happens with Sayaka-chan! Mami-chan should still have my number!"

"I do," Mami replied, showing her number in her contacts on her phone. "I hate to admit it, but I think at this point, we'll need Sakura-san."

"I need to see Sayaka," Azuma replied as he ran off to the stairs. "I have a really bad feeling about this. Mami-chan, transform and standby in the area if something happens to me or her." As Mami followed him and transformed quickly, he thought to himself, _"Please, God, I hope I'm not too late!"_

 **...**

At a bus stop near the docks, Madoka and a still tired out Sayaka were sitting, both pondering what had just happened before Azuma ran to them. "Sayaka! Madoka!"

"Azuma-kun," Madoka called out to him. "Thank God you're here! Sayaka's still not doing to well." She was clearly worried about her, almost to the point of tears.

"I know that," he replied as he ran in. "Mami-chan is keeping watch near the docks. The death of a witch may attract others to the area. Anyway, I need to make a phone call to someone, and then I gotta talk to Sayaka-chan."

"I'm fine," Sayaka continued to insist despite her condition.

"Yeah, sure, buddy," he sarcastically replied as he dialed a phone number on his phone. "I hope he answers." As the phone rang, he walked outside so neither of them could hear his conversation.

Thankfully, to his relief, his contact answered. "Hello? Azuma from school, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I know it's late, but I need you to kinda stay up a bit, Kyousuke-kun."

"It's fine," he replied. "I still owe you from when you gave me your violin that one day in elementary school for a recital." Kyousuke then chuckled. "Anyway, what's up? It's been a really long time."

"I know," Azuma replied. "Right now, though, there's something that came up. It's about Sayaka. The issue at hand is a bit complicated, but she can explain it to you in full in a better way when she gets to your house."

Kyousuke was immediately deeply confused and worried. "Sayaka-chan? What's wrong with her?!"

Azuma then sighed. "Kyousuke-kun, do you believe in miracles?"

"After what happened with my hands," he replied. "You're God damn right I do. Why is that?"

"Sayaka-chan can probably explain it better when you see her," Azuma told him. "But miracles are real, or at least they kind of are. Sayaka-chan is responsible for your miracle, and I know that sounds crazy, but you gotta bear with me here."

"Are you on something? I know you'd never lie to me, but you could be on drugs." Kyousuke was unsure what to think.

"Where would I even get drugs?" Azuma then facepalmed. "Kyousuke-kun, I'm not lying. Sayaka-chan did something that healed your hands, but now that thing is starting to bite back, like, hard, and she's in deep shit. I'm gonna talk to her, because right now, she's in a not too good place, and then I'm gonna bring her to your house, okay?"

"Shit," he replied as he realized he wasn't lying or on drugs. "This is all true, isn't it? I'll be here waiting for her. Just keep me updated, Azuma-kun, please. Sayaka-chan is really close to me."

"I know," he replied. "And she's really close to you. That's why she wished for that miracle." He then hung up and headed back into the bus stop. "Did you guys hear anything?"

"No," Madoka replied. "What's going on?"

Azuma then motioned for her to come closer to her so he could whisper. After whispering some stuff to her, Madoka nodded and gave a thumbs-up. He then turned to Sayaka. "Sayaka-chan, listen to me for a second."

"Okay," Sayaka replied as she stood up. "What's going on here?"

"An intervention," he replied. "That's what. Listen, Sayaka-chan, I know that you think you're a zombie, and I also know of that agreement Hitomi-chan made with you."

Sayaka paused for a few seconds in response. "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"Hitomi-chan told me," he replied. "She says she was worried about you. Anyway, the thing is, Sayaka, you're not a zombie."

"You lie," Sayaka quickly replied. "My soul is in that damn soul gem thing. My body is nothing but a shell. How can I face Kyousuke if I'm like this?"

"You're not listening to me," Azuma replied, now getting frustrated. "Listen, I know we argued about Homura-chan and all that earlier, but that's in the past. The only reason I'm getting a bit angry right now is because I'm worried. Anyway, Sayaka-chan, you're not a zombie because you're not mindless. You're not a walking corpse. You're not out trying to eat or kill people. You still have a heart, damn it! You're still human!"

Sayaka started at him for half a minute as he calmed himself down. She was unsure of what to think of his mini-rant as she thought to herself, _"A heart... A heart..."_

"I know I sound insane and I don't make any sense," Azuma told her. "To be honest, I really am. What normal person puts himself in harm's way like this? It really doesn't make sense. But, that's not the point. You need to get your head together and believe what I'm saying. If you don't believe me, feel your heart and see if anything is there."

"Well," Sayaka replied. "Okay." She then felt her chest, unsure if she was going to feel anything. To her surprise, she felt her heart beat within her. "I... Oh my God..." She then covered her mouth with her hands in shock as tears began to fall from her eyes. "I hear it."

"Exactly," he told her. "I think there's someone who could use a talk with you, and he's not far from here. You know who I'm talking about."

"It still feels like I can't face him," Sayaka replied, still unsure about confessing to Kyousuke. "I'm afraid of how he'll react."

"If Kyousuke truly loves you," he replied. "He would accept you for who you are. I know that he isn't the only issue here and it won't solve all the issues, but I'm sure that meeting Hitomi-chan's deadline would be a damn good way to start. Don't worry about Hitomi-chan, either. She can accept it. What matters is that you need to tell him your feelings. You can't hide them any longer.

Sayaka nodded. "Right. Right." As she began to walk out of the bus stop into the pouring rain around them, Azuma and Madoka followed beside her, patting her on the back and walking with her, getting soaked but not caring.

As Mami walked over to them from her designated hiding spot, transformed, she asked the three of them, "How's everything?"

"I talked to her," Azuma replied. "By the way, do you still have that grief seed?"

"I do," she replied as she de-transformed, grabbing it from her coat pocket. "Miki-san, you'll need this."

Sayaka took it from her and looked at it for a few seconds. She then placed it beside her soul gem and allowed it to consume the curse inside it, clearing her soul gem up. "Kyouko-san gave this to you, didn't she?"

"It's against her moral compass to normally accept grief seeds from other magical girls," Mami explained. "She was concerned about you." She then wrapped an arm around the bluenette. "We all are."

"I know," she replied. "I know."

 **...**

About 15 minutes later, the gang stopped at Kyousuke's house. Sayaka was nervous, even with Azuma's pep talk. Still, Madoka cheered her on. "Sayaka-chan, don't worry about a thing. We'll be right here waiting for you."

She smiled and replied, "Thank you." As she walked up to the front door, the rest of the gang hid nearby. "Okay... Miki Sayaka, you got this." She then closed her eyes and knocked.

Immediately, Kyousuke, wearing a t-shirt and some jeans he had haphazardly thrown on after getting Azuma's phone call and on crutches, opened the door and said to her, "I've been waiting. Azuma-kun called me and told me he was worried. What happened?"

"It's a long story," Sayaka replied as she came in. "But it starts with... Well, your hands."

Outside, as Sayaka closed the door behind her, Azuma quietly cheered to herself, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Mami chuckled in response.

Inside, Kyousuke sat down on a couch and put his crutches away beside Sayaka, who was still wet from the rain and shaking her head to get the water out of her hair. "Azuma told me about miracles and stuff, and I want to know how you had a part in it."

"Before that," Sayaka replied as she prepared to confess. "There's something I think you should know. It's about me, and you. It's about us."

Kyousuke immediately could guess as to what she was about to say. "Sayaka-chan, I know what you're gonna say, and it's that you have feelings for me."

Sayaka was surprised, both pleasantly and worryingly. "Oh, I see. Yeah, I was."

Kyousuke then sighed. "Sayaka-chan, the truth is, I feel the same way." He then extended a hand to meet her hand on the couch. "It took me until my hands healed for me to realize that. Miki Sayaka, I love you."

Sayaka blushed intensely as the boy hugged her, at a loss for words and trying to stammer out a response. "I... Uh, well... I lo-..." She then took a deep breath as she returned the hug. "I love you, too." The two just quietly embraced for a good minute as Sayaka thought to herself, _"It... It's happening. He was right. But, now I have to make the big reveal."_

As they split, Kyousuke asked, "So, about that miracle thing."

"I suppose you deserve the truth," Sayaka replied as she stood up and pulled her soul gem from her coat pocket. As she showed it to him, he stared at it in curiosity. "You're not gonna believe your own eyes, but everything you're about to see is real." She then closed her eyes and began to transform before him. Then, just as fast as it had begun, it ended, and before him stood Sayaka as a magical girl, sword and everything. "You're no dreaming."

He was immediately amazed. "Sayaka, this is... This is amazing! You look like a-"

"Magical girl," she replied. "I know. It's actually our title, too."

"Pinch me," Kyousuke replied to her. Sayaka laughed and jokingly pinched his shoulder in response. "Okay, now I know I'm not dreaming. What sort of evildoers do you fight?"

"Witches," Sayaka explained to a fascinated Kyousuke. "They're these beings that like to trap people and either kill them outright or implant them with a Witch's Kiss to make them kill themselves. It's the job of the real-life magical girl to stop as many of them as possible." She then showed him one of her cutlasses. "And this is my weapon. I can summon swords, mostly cutlasses, just like a pirate. As you can see from my hairpin, I guess my theme is music, which brings me to why your hands healed. You see, to become a magical girl, I had to make a contract with this thing called Kyubey, who is currently in VERY hot water with me right now." She then looked around to see if Kyubey was around them at all, and did not find him. "In exchange for all this, I have to make one wish. You can guess what that was."

Kyousuke looked down at his hands as the realization hit him. "You... My hands... You healed my hands. Sayaka-chan, you healed me." He then slowly looked up at the bluenette before him before he stood up on his feet without needing to use his crutches and grasped her to pull her into him. As he did, he kissed her, surprising her for a few seconds before she closed her eyes and returned his affection. After the young couple split, Kyousuke told her, "Sayaka, you gave me my passion back."

"That was the idea," she replied, still somewhat in shock over the kiss. "Holy crap, I can't believe I just got my first kiss." She then helped Kyousuke back down on the couch as she smiled. "So, I'll see you tomorrow at school?"

"Absolutely," Kyousuke replied as the two fist-bumped. "By the way, I wanna see how you fight these witch things. It sounds really cool."

"I'll take you on a hunt once you're out of those crutches," Sayaka replied as she de-transformed. "I don't wanna risk anything before then. It can get a bit hairy at times, which is saying the least of it. It is pretty cool, though." She then thought to herself, _"I probably shouldn't let him in on the darker side of things. Tonight was not a good night up until now."_

Outside, the gang had speculated what was going on inside the house the whole time. Theories had ranged from best case to worst case scenario. "It's been a while," Madoka noted. "What are they doing in there?"

"I'm just gonna come out and say it," Mami replied rather bluntly. "I think they're 'doing' each other at this point if she's been in that long."

Azuma had to stifle a laugh and Madoka blushed intensely as the implications of Mami's theory hit them. Azuma said while containing laughter, "Holy shit, dude."

"Uh," Madoka replied. "I don't think Sayaka-chan is the kind of girl that would do that. Maybe in the future, but I don't think she'd, well, you know, do that with Kamijou-san so soon."

"Love can drive people to do some odd things," Mami noted to both of them.

Then, Sayaka walked out of the house. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she jumped up and down as she cheered in celebration. "Yes! I did it! It worked!"

The gang then ran out to celebrate with her. As they all cheered and patted the bluenette on the back, Azuma thought to himself, _"This is it. You saved Mami, and now you saved Sayaka. You may have had to betray your own feelings a bit, but you succeeded. Nothing can bring this down. Michael Ridgeway, you've won!"_

 **...**

"So," Homura asked Azuma and Mami outside the apartment building the latter two lived in the day after once they got home from school. "Sayaka-chan isn't in danger anymore?"

"No," Mami assured her. "We purified her soul gem, and she's even got that boy Kamijou Kyousuke as a boyfriend now. Everything worked out in the end."

Homura, in a rare moment, smiled. "I'm actually pretty glad to hear that. I didn't want to write her off, and I'm glad I don't have to anymore. When Walpurgisnacht comes, I can count on you, Sayaka, and now Kyouko, too. She's agreed to join me and put the past in regards to you and Sayaka-chan behind her."

"I'm glad to hear that," Azuma replied. "When the time comes, I'll be there, though I won't be in the fight obviously. I wanna get all of you kicking that witch's ass back into next week on camera." The three of them then laughed.

"Well," Mami replied as she walked into the building. "I gotta start my homework. I'll see you all later."

After she left, Azuma turned to Homura and asked her, "Speaking of relationships, have you ever thought of asking Madoka-chan out? The worst that can happen is she still likes you as a friend due to an incompatible orientation. She won't hate you or anything. I know for a fact she enjoys your company."

Homura chuckled. "You know what? I'm gonna give it a try tomorrow. I might as well before Walpurgisnacht comes."

 **...**

Hitomi sat in a bench at a city park in the evening near a fountain. Originally, she had planned to confess to Kyousuke at the park. She had accepted that Sayaka had confessed to Kyousuke earlier and had been accepted by her, but a pang of sadness still flooded her, especially now that she was alone and did not have to be strong for her closest friends. She looked down at herself as tears developed in her eyes, the full force of her shattered heart hitting her. "Why," she asked herself. "Why am I so selfish that I'm crying about this?"

"You don't have to feel powerless," a voice then called out to her from behind. As she turned around, Kyubey stood behind her. "I can help you."

"Who are you?" Hitomi was somewhat creeped out by the odd look of the alien creature. "And how can you help me?"

"I can grant any wish you want," Kyubey told her with his trademark smile. "And in exchange, you can have the power to fight for good."

For a brief moment, Hitomi thought of wishing for Kyousuke to love her and leave Sayaka. _"Maybe I could wish for him to love me... Wait, no! I can't! Even if it pains me, it would destroy Sayaka-chan, and I'm sure Madoka-chan wouldn't be happy with me either. But... What this weird cat thing is offering me is tempting... Is there anything else I could wish for that won't hurt someone I care about?"_

"If you need more time," Kyubey told her. "I completely understand. My name is Kyubey, by the way."

"Nice to meet you," Hitomi replied to him. "And I think I've made my decision, Kyubey."


	9. In Her Own Way

_**11 Days Before Walpurgisnacht**_

Kyousuke and Sayaka had been 'together-together' for three days now, and already, things were going well. The two were very close to each other, and in some ways acted like a couple who had been together for a long time. The gang as a whole was happy for them, though Mami was slightly jealous of their relationship on the inside due to her own feelings for Azuma. True to her word, Sayaka had taken him on several witch fights of her own, amazing him. That day, a weekend, the seven of them decided to patrol together. Kyousuke, who was no longer on crutches, enjoyed the added mobility he now had once more. Sayaka, Kyouko, and Kyousuke went to one part of the city, while Mami, Homura, Madoka, and Azuma went to another, keeping in touch via phone. Kyouko had relented and had decided to join the gang on its patrols, wanting to train so she could prepare for the battle with Walpurgisnacht.

 **...**

In the red-light district, Sayaka, Kyousuke, and Kyouko walked around, looking for any signs of witch or familiar activity. As the three of them rounded a bend into an alley, they all heard an odd noise from within. Kyouko asked, "Huh? What the hell was that?"

"I think it came from that crack in the wall," Kyousuke pointed out to the two of them. Indeed, there was a giant crack on the side of one of the walls to the right of the gang, but it did not look normal.

"That's no crack," Sayaka replied to him. "That's an entrance to a witch's barrier. Kyouko-chan, let's transform."

"Way ahead of ya," the redhead replied as the two transformed. After completing their transformations, they summoned their weapons and walked towards the crack. However, just as they were about to enter, the crack disappeared just as a flash of green light emanated from it. After they averted their eyes, they both slowly turned back around. What Sayaka and Kyousuke saw shocked them both.

"Hi-... Hitomi?!" Sayaka was both surprised and horrified by the sight before her.

"Of course," the green-haired girl replied. She wore a flowing green dress with metal knight-like high boots, yellow laces, and a green choker that held her soul gem. In her right hand was an ax as tall as she was. "I see you're surprised."

Kyousuke, also surprised, asked her, "Hitomi-chan! Were you a magical girl, too, like Sayaka-chan?"

Hitomi shot him a glare and replied in an annoyed tone, "Not until two days ago. Now that I am, I have more power than ever."

The boy was surprised by the harsh reply. "Hitomi-chan, what's wrong?" He could tell from the look in her eyes that she was using annoyance and anger to mask some level of despair.

"This is about him, isn't it?" Kyouko was rather blunt with her (correct) assumption. "I can sense you have a thing for Sayaka's BF over there."

Hitomi got slightly angrier at Kyouko's blunt response. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Sakura Kyouko," the redhead replied as she swung her spear and aimed it at her neck. "Now, I advise you to calm the fuck down, like, now."

Sayaka, concerned about the brooding conflict, asked Kyouko, "Hey, uh, mind toning it down a bit? Hitomi-chan is a close friend to me."

"Enough of this," Hitomi replied as she de-transformed and began to walk away. "I got my grief seed for the day. I'm heading home."

Her entire demeanor, from her introduction to Kyouko to her exit, left worries in Sayaka and Kyousuke. _"This Kyousuke thing is really bothering her,"_ Sayaka thought to herself. _"The fact she made a contract... After learning what I know now, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. But... What did she wish for? If she's emotionally unstable, who knows what could happen? I dread what I would have done if I hadn't confessed to Kyousuke."_

 _ **...**_

"Are you fucking serious?!"

A shocked Azuma had just reacted to the news that Hitomi had witched, as told by Sayaka. "I wouldn't joke about that."

The boy shook his head in disbelief. "Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen."

"I'm worried about her," Sayaka then expressed to him. "Hitomi-chan seemed really bothered by me and Kyousuke-kun together. I have a feeling she may have made a contract as a rash decision. She didn't wish for us to split up or anything, so I'm clueless as to what she wished for." She then shrugged. "I'm still in disbelief."

Madoka then expressed to both of them, "If Hitomi-chan is really unstable, what would happen?" She was also deeply concerned for her friend.

Azuma and Homura knew the answer, but could not tell the group, lest one of them react horribly to the news. They looked at each other without any of the others noticing and nodded. Azuma thought to herself, _"I got a really bad feeling about Hitomi. I think she may witch far sooner than Sayaka ever did."_

 **...**

The next day, as Sayaka and Kyousuke walked to Sayaka's house together, they both suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk with no one else around when they saw that Hitomi stood in front of them, holding her soul gem with an angry look on her face. Sayaka gasped when she saw her soul gem's condition, which was nearly pitch black. "Hitomi-chan, your soul gem!" Not entirely sure what it meant but guessing that it was not good, she thought, _"What happens when it turns pitch-black?"_

"I don't care," Hitomi replied. "It doesn't matter how many I kill, it won't get any lighter, so I've stopped caring. Instead, I'm going to confront you." She then growled, disturbing both of them.

"Hitomi-chan," Kyousuke told her as he placed himself in front of his girlfriend. "I don't want to hurt you. You're still a close friend to me. However, if you wanna hurt Sayaka, you'll have to go through he first. I may not be a magical girl, but I will do everything I can to protect her." He was determined to keep Sayaka as safe as he could, despite not having powers.

Hitomi then sighed. "This is why I have such grief. You look at her with such need, and yet you don't with me." Tears then began to fall from her eyes, her voice cracking up with sorrow. "I promised myself I would respect this, but I cannot. You were the only one I saw when I dreamt, Kyousuke-kun." She then closed her eyes as the tears continued to stream down her face.

"Hitomi, please," Sayaka begged of her to stop, unwilling to fight her best friend.

"I was such a fool for falling for you." Hitomi then let out an ironic smile as the tears streamed down her face.

Suddenly, a single teardrop fell onto her soul gem, and as it did, both Sayaka and Kyousuke heard it shatter into pieces in her hands close to her chest. As it did, a giant black mass suddenly enveloped the two lovers as Hitomi collapsed to the ground before them, a massive explosion of wind blowing them back several feet. Sayaka shouted out as both she and Kyousuke tried to hold their ground through the force of the explosion, "HITOMI! HITOMI!"

As the wind nearly knocked Kyousuke over, Sayaka transformed and caught him. He then asked her as they looked on at a giant mass emanate from what was originally Hitomi's soul gem, "What the hell happened to Hitomi-chan?!"

"Her... Oh my God," Sayaka said in horror as she noticed something about her soul gem. "It's not a soul gem anymore... It's... It's a grief seed! That means..."

Just as the realization was about to hit Sayaka, a giant black arm smashed the ground before the two of them, sending them flying several feet before they both hit the ground hard with loud thuds. As Sayaka got up, she noticed that Kyousuke had been hurt by the impact. She quickly ran over to him as she drew a cutlass. "Kyousuke! Oh my God, no!" As she helped him up, it seemed like all hope was lost for the two lovers. "We're... We're alone..."

Then, they heard a voice from above call out loudly to them. "Sayaka, grab Shizuki-san's body and get Kamijou-san to safety! I can take care of the witch!" As they looked up, Homura landed down before them from up above. "Go!"

"Yeah," Sayaka nodded as she and Kyousuke ran to grab Hitomi's body. As they picked it up, Homura pointed to where the exit out of the witch's barrier was. "That way?" Homura then nodded as she readied a rocket launcher. "Got it!"

As Homura aimed at the witch, she told herself, "This will be a painful talk afterwards." She then fired at Hitomi's witch, striking it in the torso-like area of its pitch-black body, causing it to scream in intense pain.

Outside, Sayaka and Kyousuke rushed out as the gang waited for them with worry. Confused, Sayaka asked, "Huh? How did you guys get here so fast?!"

"Homura-chan knew something was wrong," Madoka replied. "She had Mami-san fashion some ribbons to keep us in contact with her while she paused time and rushed us here."

"Time travel? I knew it," Sayaka replied as she realized what Homura's powers were. She then remembered what had just transpired, and froze as she tried to figure out how to break the news to the group as she looked at Hitomi's body in her arms. "I... Oh my..."

"Hitomi-chan?" Madoka was horrified. "What happened to her?!"

Then, they heard a scream emanate from within the barrier that all of them recognized. Azuma called out, "That's Homura!"

Madoka immediately ran into the barrier with no regard for her own safety, barely managing to not get caught by Mami, Kyouko, or Sayaka as they tried to stop her. "Don't stop me! She needs help!"

"Kaname-san, no!" Mami tried to warn her, but it was too late. She ran in and disappeared on the other side. "Fucking damn it, why?! Why did this have to happen?!" She then turned to Hitomi's body. "What happened to her?"

"She... she's dead," Kyousuke realized as she felt her wrists for a pulse that never came. "Whatever that thing was killed her instantly."

"No," Azuma replied in disagreement as he stepped forward. "That thing didn't kill her. That thing is her." He had finally come clean with the truth. "Hitomi-chan turned into a witch.

As the realization hit Kyouko and Mami, both recoiled in horror at the implication. Mami fell to her knees and said to herself, "Why did Shizuki-san turn into a witch? How does one turn into a witch?!" She then began to hyperventilate as she suffered a panic attack. Kyouko and Azuma rushed over to comfort her as she began to sob into them.

Kyubey then approached as he told the whole group outside, "It was a matter of time you guys found out. Magical girls turn into witches for other magical girls to fight. It's the bigger of the two sources of witches, the other being stray familiars. It's a cycle, really. That cycle keeps the universe alive."

Inside the barrier, Madoka ran to the fight, and found Homura laying on the ground before her, immobile and badly hurt with bruises and bleeding all over as the witch yelled out in madness and anger, seemingly ignoring Madoka. She paused in horror as she scanned her body and found several deep wounds, blood pouring from them profusely. Madoka then ran to her side and screamed, "HOMURA!"

As she held up her head and upper body, Homura turned to her weakly. "I... I meant to ask you something, Madoka-chan." Her voice was soft, and she was clearly on her way out.

"What? What is it?" Tears streamed from her eyes as the entirety of her interactions with Homura flashed before her very eyes, ranging from the day she had met her to that very moment. She recalled the times she had saved her life, the times she had complimented her, the times she had swore to prevent her from contracting, the times she had appeared in her dreams, all of it, and it hit her hard.

"I was afraid you'd not feel this way," Homura explained to her before she coughed up blood, some of which landed on Madoka's face, which she wiped off slowly as she continued. "But... I no longer have the time to be afraid. Kaname Madoka, I love you, and though you're my best friend, I feel far more than that. I love you like a husband and a wife, or a wife and a wife in this case." She then chuckled weakly in an attempt to bring some level of humor to the grim situation. "I've always loved you, and my powers grant me more than just the ability to stop time. I've been traveling through time to try to save you."

"Wait a minute," Madoka realized as she remembered a dream she once had. "I had a dream with you in it. Was that reality?"

"It was," Homura confirmed. "It was another timeline where I had to reset and go back to that moment where we first met because I had failed. Doing that over 100 times tends to make someone realize you like them as more than just a friend, Madoka." She then coughed again, but spit up no blood. "I don't have much time left, my love." She then let out a short moan in pain. "Damn it, that hurts."

Madoka then lowered her head and moved closer to her face as she contemplated her next decision. After a few seconds, she closed her eyes and planted her lips onto Homura's, enticing her to hold onto her shoulder and draw Madoka in further. She could taste the blood in Homura's mouth during the kiss, but did not care. After they split, a thin strand of reddened saliva running between them, Madoka told her with tears falling onto her face, "Homura-chan, thank you." Then, half a minute later, Homura's grip suddenly weakened, and Madoka heard her soul gem shatter, having been significantly damaged in the fight. As Homura fell to the floor, Madoka looked up, her eyes staring into blank space for a few seconds as the shock began to hit her. Then, she let out a primal scream of Homura's name. "HOMURA!"

As she sobbed into Homura's chest, she heard a voice call out to her from in front of her. "Madoka, I can assist you."

Madoka looked up and felt like she was going to throw up when she saw who it was. As she stood up and picked Kyubey up by his neck, shaking him intensely, she said with rage in her voice, "You piece of shit! You motherfucker! You son of a bitch! You did this to her! You killed her!"

"If you would stop shaking me for five seconds," Kyubey explained. "You could make a contract with me to save her life. Besides, you may need to make one soon with that witch behind you."

Suddenly, Madoka stopped dead in her tracks. "What?! What?!"

"I said," Kyubey repeated himself. "You could make a contract to bring her back to life exactly as before she got hurt."

"I..." Madoka then dropped Kyubey onto the ground as she realized he was right. Without any hesitation, she told him, "I wish for Akemi Homura to be brought back to life as she was before this witch hurt her. I can't live without her in my life, Kyubey. I can't." She then fell to her knees, sobbing again. "Homura... Homura... Why... Why did this happen to you...?"

Kyubey replied, "It's about time. Your wish is granted." Immediately, both of his ear appendages reached into Madoka, pulling her soul out of her body and into a newly-created soul gem right at her feet. During the entire process, Madoka winced and then screamed in pain. Then, just as it was complete, the rest of the gang rushed in, expecting the worst.

Instead, they got Madoka, who stood before them in what would be her magical girl outfit. Immediately, the entire gang was shocked by what had happened. Azuma asked her, "Madoka-chan, what did you do?!"

"I made a contract with Kyubey to save Homura," Madoka replied as she turned around to face Hitomi's witch. "Now, I'm going to kill this monster." She then summoned her trademark bow and arrow that Azuma recognized before she proclaimed to the witch, "Prepare to die!"

The witch ignored her decree and rushed towards her, its black arms ready to pounce and rip Madoka to shreds. Sayaka shouted, "Madoka-chan, look out!"

Madoka was able to dodge an arm before she stopped and took aim at the head of the witch. Then, she pulled back her bow as three arrows spawned inside it before releasing it, firing all three arrows at once. All three hit their mark, and caused a massive explosion that blinded the entire group and obliterated the witch.

When the dust settled, the barrier was gone, and any trace of the witch went with it. The gang stood around, adjusting their eyes back to the normal light around them as Homura stirred. "Ugh... What... What happened?" She was alive once more, but had no idea how or why.

Madoka immediately ran to her and planted a quick kiss on her lips, surprising the girl and causing her to intensely blush. After they split, she hugged her and told her, "Homura, I love you! I know you told me to never make a contract, but I couldn't stand the thought of living in a world without you in it!" As tears fell from her face, she let go. "You told me you loved me, and I love you back."

Homura realized the gravity of what Madoka had just said as she looked her over and recognized her outfit from the other timelines. A sudden rush of fear swept over her. "You... No... You made a contract?!" She then began to reach for her shield, presumably to exit the timeline, but Madoka noticed it.

"Homura-chan," Madoka explained to her as she held her right hand and stopped her from going back in time. "Please, don't go back in time this time. Stay with me. You told me everything as you were dying. I'm sure a past version of me told you to make sure I don't go through with this, but I don't care. I'd go through hell to keep you safe."

Homura paused for a few seconds. _"Stay with her... Stay with her..."_ Then, she remembered something else. "Wait a minute! Hitomi!" She then got up and ran to Hitomi's body. "Oh shit."

"Is it true?" Mami approached her, a dead look in her eyes. "Do witches come from dead magical girls?"

Homura looked to Azuma and asked him, "Azuma-kun, did you tell them?"

"Sayaka-chan already figured it out," he reluctantly confessed. "But I had to break it to the others."

"What?" Madoka had no idea until that moment what had transpired outside. "So... So that witch I killed was Hitomi-chan?! Oh my God!" She then began to sob again as she realized she had technically killed her best friend. "I... I killed Hitomi..."

Mami then turned to Azuma, her eyes turning from death to anger. "You knew this all along, but never told us?!" She then grabbed him by his shirt collar and pinned him against a wall. "You fucking knew and you didn't fucking tell us?!"

"I...," Azuma tried to explain before he was cut off by Mami again.

"You motherfucker," Mami yelled in his face. "I'm gonna turn into one of those things that I murder for a living! I'm murdering other magical girls! I'm fucking murdering other magical girls! What gives you the God damn excuse to not tell any of us?!" Tears streamed down her face as her anger mixed with sadness.

"I was afraid you'd go mad," Azuma replied to her, not making the situation any better. "I've seen it before! A magical girl finds out, and they kill all their friends!"

"You know," Mami told him as she sighed. "I loved you. I loved you from the bottom of my heart! I came onto you because I didn't want to be lonely anymore! I dreamt of living with you for as long as I lived, Azuma! I even wrote down my last name as your's in a journal because that's how strong I felt! I would have loved to have been Inubouzaki Mami..." She then dropped him onto the ground. "But... You had to ruin it. Azuma, you're breaking my heart..." She no longer referred to him by his last name, an indication she was closer than ever to him. "I can't let you hurt me anymore." She then summoned up a musket. "Goodbye, my love."

Immediately, Kyouko and Kyousuke ran to her and restrained her as she tried to aim and fire the musket at a shocked Azuma. Kyouko shouted, "Put the fucking gun down, Mami!" Then, the gun went off, the musket ball barely missing Kyousuke's head and flying into the distance. "Holy shit!"

As they managed to rip Mami away from Azuma, Sayaka walked over to him, also angry with him, though not homicidally angry, like Mami was. "I let you in on some very deep personal secrets of mine, and all for this? Your little plan killed my best friend and almost killed my boyfriend, asshole!"

"It's not my fault," Azuma tried telling her as he began to cry. "It's not my fault!"

"Bullshit," Sayaka replied as she slapped him across the face. "I don't want to hear a word from you again! If I see you near me, Madoka-chan, Mami-san, or Kyouko-chan, I'll fucking kill you!" She then held a cutlass to his neck to drive the point home further. "I swear it on Hitomi-chan's life."

Azuma stood there as the gang mourned Hitomi's loss and ignored him, crying his eyes out as he slid onto the ground. _"It's all gone. All my hard work is gone. The gang is more split up than ever, and now we're nowhere near ready to fight Walpurgisnacht. What have I done?!"_


	10. Crawling Back

_**June 23, 2024, 7 Days before Walpurgisnacht**_

After a tense period or morning classes, Azuma was walking away from the classroom when Homura stopped him. "Hey, Inubouzaki-san."

Azuma turned around. "Homura-chan, what is it?" He was surprised that she was even acknowledging his existence, considering none of the other girls did anymore.

"Come to the roof," she replied. "We need to talk." She then turned around and headed for the entrance to the roof, with Azuma quickly following behind her.

Once they got to the roof and sat down near each other on a bench, Azuma began with, "Why did you bring me here?"

"I want to thank you," Homura replied to him as she smiled, a rare occurrence for the normally dead serious girl. "You gave me the encouragement to finally confess to Madoka-chan, and she accepted."

"I'm going to say something," Azuma told her as he prepared to drop another bombshell. "And I need you to not react harshly."

"I'm prepared for anything you throw my way," she replied, thinking there was nothing he could say that would faze her.

"I know that you travel back in time and repeat every time you meet Madoka," he replied to her. "And the reason I know is because I'm not from this world."

Homura was not prepared for that. She immediately recoiled in shock. "Wha-... What?! How did you know?!"

"I told you," he replied as he stood up. "Akemi Homura, I am not from your world, or, at least, myself as I am now. The Inubouzaki Azuma you may have known has merged with a personality from a universe where you are fiction, and I can prove it."

Homura, immediately suspect of what Azuma had told her, transformed into her magical girl attire and pulled a gun on him, aiming squarely at his chest as she told him in a harsh tone, "Explain. Now."

"You used to have glasses," Azuma told her to prove his point. "You made a wish to be able to go back in time to save Madoka. You used your magic to eventually heal your eyes and make you far less sickly. You've been through dozens of timelines, and two in particular stick out to me."

Homura thought to herself as she realized he was telling the truth, _"Shit... He's right... But..."_ "Which timelines were those exactly?"

"There was one where Mami-chan went mad after Sayaka-chan turned into the witch known as Oktavia von Seckendorff," Azuma replied, almost ignoring the gun still pointed at his chest. "She killed Kyouko-chan, and she would have killed you and Madoka-chan if you hadn't killed her. In another, Madoka instructed you to stop her from ever making a contract before you had to kill her. Otherwise, she would have turned into the witch known as Kriemhild Gretchen, and would have most likely destroyed the whole planet."

Homura put her gun down and away in her shield as she shook, still in shock that he indeed knew everything. "If you're not from our world, what world are you from?"

"A world where you and all your friends are in...," he replied as he began to feel reluctant to finish his sentence. "Bear with me here, but this world is part of an anime from my world." He then switched to English to further drive the point home. "You may not understand me, but I think that hearing your classmate speak fluent English with no accent whatsoever should be another giveaway."

Homura's eyes widened as she stepped back. "I... Are we real?"

Azuma, not wanting her to panic, assured her, "Absolutely! Homura-chan, you're as real as they can be. All of this is. To be honest, I'm sure the world where I came from is a book or movie somewhere else, too. Maybe one world's reality is another's fiction, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we are real in this reality." He was deeply concerned that he had broken Homura.

"You're right," she replied, calming herself down to Azuma's relief. As she sighed, she admitted, "To be honest, I shouldn't be surprised. Our story would make for a great drama if it was fiction."

"Trust me," Azuma assured her. "It does. I still have my phone and my laptop from my old world filled with stuff about it if you want to see it." He then pulled his old laptop out and opened up Windows Explorer. "I saved every episode of the show on my laptop."

"Maybe when we have more time," Homura replied, noting that they were still on break as she pointed to a clock nearby. As she de-transformed back into her civilian attire, she told him, "The other thing I wanted to ask you is if you want to try to get the gang back together. I can get most of the girls, but I want you to talk to Tomoe-san personally."

"You're right," he replied as he looked down at himself in sadness and some shame. "I fucked up. I know."

"Not really," Homura assured him. "I would have hid the truth, too. Hell, I did."

As Azuma sat down, he confessed to Homura, "The other thing about Mami-chan is... In the old world, I was like 19. In this world, I'm your age, yet I don't entirely feel it. Mami very explicitly is in love with me, but I had to push myself away because it felt wrong."

"Trust me," Homura again assured him with a pat on the shoulder, again an unusually high level of emotion for her. "I may be 13, but I feel older. I've been through 104 loops before this one, and mentally I feel a lot older. You just gotta live with it. It hasn't stopped me from loving Madoka-chan, even though if I aged physically with how much time has passed I'd be like 29 or 30 now. I can tell you feel something for her. You should face the truth and confess."

"I might as well," Azuma replied. As he got up, he had one last question to ask her. "Homura... Why didn't you abandon this timeline when Madoka made a contract?"

"I was seriously thinking about it when I saw her," she replied as she looked down at her soul gem ring. "But... Hearing her pour her heart out to me, and hearing that she made a contract to save my life... It gets to you..." As she became emotional again, a few tears rolled down her cheek. "In that moment, when she told me she loved me from the very bottom of her heart, I had never felt happier. I kicked myself mentally for even considering reversing time in that moment." She then wiped her tears away and chuckled. "She's right. I wouldn't want to live in a world without her. If and when the time comes where one of us does witch out, we'd probably make a suicide pact or something."

"A word of advice," Azuma said as he was about to leave. "I know you guys just started going out, but I know you probably want to do more than just kiss her, right?"

Homura blushed in response, covering her nose as a small trickle of blood came out. "I, well, uh..."

"I would strongly advise you to lose your virginity to Madoka-chan sometime soon before the battle," Azuma bluntly told her. "If she wants to too, of course. You may not get another chance to fully express your love to her." He then exited the rooftop.

As he left, Homura sighed and closed her eyes. "He's right... I've dreamt about lying in bed with her, us moving in closer, then us touching the most vulnerable corners of our bodies, exploring everything... And then..." She had to stop herself as she grabbed a napkin from her book bag and wiped her nose. "Fucking nose bleeds." As she stood up, she thought to herself, _"If she wants to, we must."_

 _ **...**_

 _ **June 25, 2024, 5 Days Before Walpurgisnacht**_

"You called us all here for a reason," a curious Sayaka said to Homura at the latter's house. The entire gang, including Kyousuke, was present, sans Azuma. "Is this about Walpurgisnacht?"

"Indeed," Homura replied as she pulled up a map of the city on her iPad. "Walpurgisnacht will most likely spawn in this area of the city near the waterfront. The estimated time of arrival is 0700 hours. The storm it generates will precipitate it by at least 20 minutes. I would meet at the dockyards at 0630, or about 10 minutes before the storm begins. It will be a harsh and violent one, with hurricane-force winds at times."

The whole gang was horrified by the level of destruction Homura's description implied. Mami in particular was shaking with fear. "Is... That's... That's going to flatten the city!"

"I'm afraid it will devastate it," Homura confessed. Though she had been through it before, she still was often saddened by the fact that Walpurgisnacht's arrival would bring countless destruction along with it. "They will be evacuating citizens around 0700 hours, so that should ensure many of them survive. Even so, prepare to see death around you, and also prepare to participate in the rescue of trapped persons from collapsed buildings. Emergency services will be stretched to their breaking point, and relief from the national government will not come fast, so we will have to pick up the slack. However, you still need to focus on the primary mission of destroying Walpurgisnacht."

Kyouko spoke up next, saying to the group, "Normally, this would be the part where I'd say I don't care about the victims, but come on, I'm not that cruel." As she looked to the map, she continued with, "On this matter, I hope you all use your magic for other's benefit. I know I will."

"I'm impressed," Sayaka jokingly noted to her. "You're caring for someone other than yourself."

"Watch it," Kyouko replied back to her.

Kyousuke then raised his hand, curious about his role in what would happen. "Uh, Akemi-san, what would my role be? I'm not exactly a magical girl."

Homura then showed the group a box in response to his question. "In this box are radios," she replied as she pulled out a few portable radios. "My house will be the dispatch station, since I'm not in the ring of destruction and we have a basement. Kamijou-san, I need you to stay here and be our dispatcher. I also have another dispatcher I enlisted." She then turned to a closet behind her. "Come on out now."

As the closet door opened, Azuma nervously walked in, much to the suspicion of Sayaka, Mami, and Kyouko and the concern of Madoka. "I know what you're thinking. What the hell am I doing here?"

Homura then took over with, "I understand he's made mistakes, but now is not the time to raise hell over them. He's going to be our second dispatcher. Now, after the dust settles, myself and Azuma would like to implement a plan that will change how we hunt and fight forever."

Azuma then took out his laptop from his book bag and placed it on the table, opening up to a PowerPoint presentation. "I have a plan to change the way magical girls track down and hunt threats forever. No longer will the only defense against witches be an unorganized mess of competition and in-fighting. Using a radio network, GPS tracking, and assigned districts, we will be able to organize all magical girls in the Quad City area of Mitakihara, Kazamino, Kamihama, and Asunaro into a semi-cohesive unit that will ensure less fighting, more efficiency, and greater response to threats." As he pointed out the proposed divisions of Mitakihara, he said, "I haven't done anything with the other three cities since we haven't been in contact with magical girls there yet, but we hope to soon."

Mami was keenly interested. "It reminds me of a police department." Kyouko was also surprisingly in support, nodding along.

"Exactly," Homura replied, confirming that the plan was indeed structured similarly to a police department. "Azuma-kun is very knowledgeable about emergency services thanks to his mother being a fire department dispatcher."

 **...**

 _ **June 30, 2024, The Day Before Walpurgisnacht's Arrival**_

Madoka had invited Homura over to her house that evening, telling her parents about their relationship, which they thankfully accepted. As the two lovebirds made their way to the basement of the house, Madoka told her, "You know, I'm surprised my mother managed to convince my father to let you stay overnight. Come to think of it, she wasn't surprised I liked girls at all." It was around 7 PM.

Homura then turned to her and confessed, "The truth is, I talked to your mother when you were upstairs with your brother, and she told me that she herself is bisexual. She was planning on telling you soon, but... Our teacher, Saotome-sensei, used to date Junko when they were our age. They parted ways, but remained good friends, even after Junko found your father, and as for Saotome-sensei, well, that's still a work in progress." She herself was still in disbelief over the revelation.

"She told me while you were on the phone," Madoka replied to her with a smile. "She said she hid it from me for a while because she feared me being ostracized because my mom was gay or whatever. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in the family." She then locked the door to the basement. "Now, the door's locked..." As she turned to Homura, she gave off a look of longing and slight seduction as she walked down the stairs.

Homura immediately realized what Madoka was up to. _"Was... Was she planning to take us to the next level herself? Fuck, my heart isn't ready!"_ As she tried to say something, Madoka interrupted her with a kiss, pinning her up against the wall as Homura returned the kiss with ease. _"Wait, no... This feels right... This feels so right!"_

Madoka then drew away from her and told her, "This may be the last night we have together. I want to make it count. We have a few couches, a bar, and a TV here, and I plan on using two of those." She then pointed out the rather well-furnished basement. "My parents like to use it to host parties. There's also a pull-out bed built into one of the couches." After she walked towards and then around the bar, she flipped on the remaining lights and bent down to grab something. As she stood back up, she placed a whole bottle of hard liquor on the bar before bending back down to grab something else. What she grabbed next made Homura blush a bright red, brighter than ever before.

"Madoka-chan... Is that...?"

Madoka revealed two pink vibrators on the bar. "Kind of a long story about these. My mom gave me her credit card about three weeks ago and told me to go to this website. She then left the room and I bought two of these. They came like last night and I haven't used them yet. She figured it would be better if I had these instead of trying to let it all out with some guy or girl and run the risk of pregnancy or an STD. Joke's on her, though."

Homura replied back to her as she looked them over, "Why's that?"

"Because we're both virgins," Madoka replied, confirming Homura's suspicions. "Well, until tonight." She then opened the liquor, which was a bottle of Hennessy cognac, and poured herself and Homura a glass in two glass cups from Junko's work. As she downed her drink, she saw Homura drink her's slowly. "Come on, Homura-chan, you can do it faster."

"Madoka-chan," she addressed her. "I've been considering this, but I never would have guessed you'd be the first to make a move. Maybe you were more like your past self than I realized."

Madoka, curious as to how she acted in past timelines, asked her, "How was I?"

"Badass, all-around," Homura immediately told her. "Nothing could bring you down. You were awesome at like everything, and no, that isn't me talking through rose-tinted glasses. You were hot as hell, and it didn't take many timelines for me to realize you were more than a friend to me. Everything about you was attractive, and still is. Dont get me wrong, you're still pretty hot. You know, I don't know how or why it changed." Madoka could see that Homura was daydreaming about her past self while describing her.

Madoka pondered to herself for a second. _"Maybe what she's described has been within me this whole time,"_ she thought to herself. "You know, maybe now that things are going our way, that old me is coming back." She then poured herself another drink. "Well, that, or maybe this alcohol is getting to me already." After she finished her second drink, she looked at Homura across the bar and said, "Now, how do you want to do this?" As she walked around and bent down to whisper in Homura's ear, she quietly told her in a seductive tone, "Let's get to it."

 **...**

Meanwhile, at Sayaka's house, the aforementioned bluenette and Kyousuke practically burst through her bedroom door, furiously making out as her boyfriend laid her down on her bed and split from her to undo the tie of her school uniform as she caught her breath. "Kyousuke..."

He then paused as he sniffed the air around him. As he looked around, Sayaka chuckled. "Sayaka-chan, is that lavender?"

"Indeed," Sayaka replied with a smile. "I stole it from my mom's dresser. She puts it on whenever, you know... I try my best not to think about my parents doing the thing that created me." The two lovers then broke down laughing, Kyousuke rolling onto the bed next to Sayaka as he could barely contain his laughter. Sayaka then told him, "Don't you know? I like to smell 'senatorial,' but this isn't the Room of Non-Sexual Matters. I don't think about the Senate almost every day." She then whispered into his ear, "I think about you."

Kyousuke chuckled again, getting the reference. "I always loved Robot Chicken's Star Wars stuff. Let me guess, you're in agony and you can't breathe?"

"Maybe," Sayaka replied in a joking tone. "But yoga isn't gonna help. Cocktease doesn't even begin to describe that skit. I think you know the only thing that'll help." She then stood up in bed and lifted up her uniform and undershirt before taking both off, revealing her bra underneath as a very interested Kyousuke watched. "You know, it's kinda funny. When we were kids, we didn't care, but now it's a big deal. I still remember being confused when my mom told me to be careful around boys when I was like 8 or 9 whenever I went swimming."

"Honestly," he replied, adding in his own experiences. "Same here. My mom and my dad told me to be careful around especially you when I was 8." He then shrugged. "I don't know why they thought that I was going to hurt you."

"My dad would fucking kill you if he knew I was doing this with you," Sayaka mentioned. Thankfully for them, her parents were out of town again for a business trip, and wouldn't be back until the morning. "Not me, you. If guns were more legal here, he'd probably chase you with a shotgun American-style."

Kyousuke replied to her, "Well, that's more of a reason for us to do this. If Walpurgisnacht doesn't kill us, your dad will." The two then laughed again before Kyousuke planted another kiss on her lips, reaching his hands around her back and fumbling with her bra strap. As they split, he continued to struggle a bit.

Sayaka, amuses by his attempt to undo her bra, asked him, "Need help?"

"Maybe," he replied.

"Ah, boys," she replied as she used her right hand to guide Kyousuke to the right spot. Once he grabbed it, her bra fell off. "Let me tell you, that feels nice to do when I get home from school. It's like the first thing I do when I walk in to my room, and I bet Mami-san does the same thing. Apparently I'm not too far behind her in the chest department, and I'm guessing you're not paying attention to me because you're very eagerly staring at my boobs."

"No, I was," he denied. "I can multi-task. Just watch." He then pressed another kiss against her lips as she wrapped her arms around him and dragged him down, laying him on top of her.

As they split, Sayaka told him, "What are you waiting for?"

 **...**

Mami answered the door to her apartment and found Azuma standing outside, a sad look on his face. "Azuma-kun," she asked him in a serious tone. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to speak to you," he told her, with clear pain in his eyes. "I need to apologize."

Mami sighed as she decided to let him in. "Come on in already." She thought to herself, _"I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but my heart is telling me to let him in."_

As he sat down at the triangular glass dining table in her apartment, Mami sat down across from him. He broke the tension first with, "Mami-chan, you have every right to hate me for what I did. I shouldn't have hid the truth from you." He then sighed as his apology became more heartfelt in tone and in words. "I knew information that could have saved lives, but hid it because of my fear. I feared how you would have reacted because I assumed you would lash out. I was so wrong to assume that. Instead, all I did was hurt those closest to me, including you." As he continued, tears began to fall from his eyes. "It hurts so much knowing what could happen to you, and I know because I've seen it happen. I don't know what I would do with myself if you became... If you became one of them. Mami-chan, I care for you so much, and I would give up everything to keep you safe. I know I really can't as a civilian, but I can't stop myself from trying. I would march through Hell if it meant you lived."

"I...," Mami stuttered as she collected her thoughts. "You did violate our trust, Inubouzaki-san. You violated mine, especially."

"I know, and I have absolutely no excuse." He began to wipe away the tears from his eyes and face as he settled down. "You have every right to never speak to me again."

"But," Mami then interjected. "I understand why you hid that from us. Looking at it after I calmed myself down, I probably would have hid that information as well. After all, didn't you say your cousin witched after she found out?"

"Sort of," Azuma replied. "There's something else I haven't told anyone. It's where I came from, and who I am." He then took a deep breath. "The truth is... Fuck, how do I explain it without sounding like a crazy person..."

"Is it as bad as the witch thing?" Mami was concerned, but was determined not to panic like she did the day before.

"No," he replied. "It's... Tomoe-san, or... Mami-chan, how would you feel about someone who said they were from a different world?"

Mami, unsure of how to answer, pondered to herself for a moment. "Well... To be honest, I may call them crazy, but do I have the right to? I'm sure if I told someone that I turn into a magical girl and fight witches while hopefully not turning into one, they'd call me either crazy or a chuunibyou." She then chuckled. "At this point, I'll believe anything."

"Well, I am from a different world." Azuma sighed as he began to speak perfect English, using the voice he had when he himself was 14 back in the old world. "Azuma Inubouzaki is the name I have here. My name in my old world was Michael Gerard. Mami, you may not understand what I'm saying, but I hope this is proof and you believe me."

Mami sat there in stunned silence, taking in what she had just heard. "You spoke English... Really well, too! What did you say?"

Azuma decided to mostly repeat himself in Japanese, "Azuma is the name I have here. My name in my old world was Michael Ridgeway. I was 18 when I came here. I don't know how it happened, but all I remember was getting into a bad car accident and everything going dark, and then when I woke up, I was in middle school again. Ask me something about 2018, and I can answer it."

"Uhh," Mami said as she tried to think of a question. "Who was President of the United States?"

"Donald Trump," Azuma replied. "Ask me a question about you that only you know."

"A question only I know the answer to..." Mami thought to herself, "What's the point of asking that if he won't know the answer?" "Uh... How long was Kyouko-chan a magical girl before she met me?"

"One year," Azuma immediately replied. "Ask another."

"When me and Kyouko first met, who saved who?"

"You saved Kyouko from a witch who could produce decoys and illusions."

The last answer shocked Mami. "I knew for a FACT I didn't tell him that." "I guess that settles it. You are from a different world. But... How do you know that?"

"I had no cousin who was a magical girl," Azuma replied. "I knew all about what happened and what was going to happen, the latter to a limited extent, because in the old world, you guys were... Well, you guys were a fictional universe."

Mami's eyes widened as the realization hit her. "We... This world is fake?"

"No!" Azuma very quickly reassured her as he hugged her. "No, it's not! Living here proves it's not fake! It's real, all of it!"

Mami whispered out loud, "Real... What is real..."

"To my old world, you guys were an anime series." The two then split. "And you guys ended up becoming so much more for so many people." He then took his book bag from behind him and opened it up to take out his old phone and his art book. "I can show you." He then unlocked his old phone and opened up the Photos app. "Mami-chan, are you sure you wanna see this?"

"Yes," Mami replied as she looked. "Let me see it."

"Got it," Azuma replied as he opened up an album on the phone that said "MADOKA MAGICA." He pointed at it and said, "That's the abbreviated title. The full one is Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Puella Magi was Latin for magical girl."

"I recognize the titles of the other anime you have on here," Mami replied. "I see Darling in the Franxx, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, ReZero, Code Geass, Cardcaptor Sakura... You have a lot..." Mami then chucked. "It's okay. I like that stuff, too."

"Yeah," Azuma replied. "I guess the only difference between my old world and this world is that your show doesn't exist as a show, since it's the world itself." He then showed her fanart of herself. "This isn't official art, but it's fanart."

Mami looked at it, amazed at the artwork of herself. "It's... It's beautiful... You said you had pictures of us, too, right?"

"Yeah," Azuma replied. "I had more in he old world, but all I have are pictures of them I took with my phone. I have some I drew." He then opened his art book to a picture of the entirety of the Holy Quintet in their magical girl outfits he had drawn about two weeks ago. "Here's the whole gang. It's not the best, but it's not bad."

"I like it," Mami replied. Then, as she stared at Hitomi, she had a sudden realization. "Wait... When you said "this wasn't supposed to happen" with Hitomi... Did she make a contract in the show in your world?"

"No," Azuma replied. "That was completely unexpected. I have a summary of the entirety of the show in here." He then flipped to a few pages that detailed what happened in the show. "You may not like some parts of it, because... Well..."

"Why?" Mami then took the artbook from him and looked at the summary, which was broken down by episode. "Episodes 1 and 2 look normal. Episode 3..." As Mami read the summary of Episode 3, she gasped and dropped the book. "I... I died?!"

"You did," Azuma replied. "That's why I was so afraid to tell you. I wasn't sure how you would react. Without me freeing Homura and then pushing you out of the way, you'd be dead."

Mami then picked up the artbook and continued to read. "Miki-san," Mami said to herself as she got further down. "Oh my God... Miki-san, no..." She then began to cry. "Why did Miki-san turn into a witch?!"

"Because nobody helped her," Azuma simply said as he hugged her again. "Thankfully, none of this happened because I was here."

"Did I really kill them?" Mami then suddenly stopped her crying. "Did I really kill Sakura-san and almost Akemi-san?!"

"Mami!" Azuma had to pat her on the back to calm her down. "In that timeline, you did, but this isn't that timeline." He then split from her and held her hands. "This is our time, Mami-chan, and we can choose our own destiny, together if we wish. Truth be told, in the old world, you were always my favorite."

That comment made the blonde blush intensely as she wiped away her tears. "Favorite..."

Suddenly, Mami grabbed hold of the collar of his uniform shirt and quickly moved in for a kiss as she closed her eyes tight. As their lips met, Azuma was at first taken back, but very quickly returned it. As the two moaned and began to tongue each other, Mami laid back, dragging Azuma down with her onto the carpet before he began to feel up the right side of her uniform shirt with his right hand. As his hand reached her bra, he felt underneath it, eliciting a moan from her as they split.

Azuma now was on top of her, feeling her up. "What?! I..."

"No," Mami assured him. "Keep going. Azuma-kun, before we face Walpurgisnacht, I need you to do something for me, and I will do something for you."

Azuma immediately blushed as the implications of what Mami was suggesting became clear to him. "You... Are you sure you want to have sex?"

"Yes," Mami immediately replied without any hesitation in her voice as she cupped the side of his face. "I wanna know what it's like before I die, and we both may die tomorrow. Also... About what I said to you when we fought..."

"You said you loved me," he replied, recalling what she had angrily told him through tears and sadness when they had fought before. "That you had begun to see me as your everything before what happened."

"I was wrong about it ending," she told him. "Azuma... I love you. I cannot repay you for saving my life, but maybe my love for you can come close. You mean the world to me."

Azuma was stunned. He never expected any of this to happen to him. "Uhhh.. I... Mami-chan... All I can say is that I love you, too." He decided to be honest with her and himself. "I've loved you even before we truly met, and I am glad you feel the same." He then moved in for another kiss, the two of them meeting lips before he moved down her face and gave short little kisses and bites down her neck. "You are perfect. I refuse to let you live your life alone anymore."

Tears of joy welled up in the blonde magical girl's eyes. "That's... That means so much... Thank you..." She then began to cry into his shoulder, unable to hold it in any longer. All Azuma could do was pat her on the back and comfort her as she let it all out. "Thank God... Thank God for you! I thank God every day I met you and Kaname-san, Miki-san, Akemi-san, and Sakura-san! You all mean the world to me!" She then sniffled as she wiped her nose and face. "I would be dead if not for my friends, and especially for the love of my life."

Azuma then helped her get up, gently holding her hand the whole way. "I think you know what we must do next, since you did suggest it." He then got up, but as he did, Mami grabbed his hand.

"Where are you going?"

"To the pharmacy," he replied, implying he was going to buy contraceptives.

"Don't bother," Mami assured him. "I know my cycle, and I also take pills. Besides, again, we may die tomorrow." She knew the risks, but at that point, she no longer cared. To soothe any concerns he had, she pulled out a small bottle of birth control pills from her pocket. "Just promise me that if something does happen, you'll stick with me, okay?"

Azuma sat back down and held her hands with his. "I promise. I want to keep you safe, as I said earlier, and whatever decisions you make, I'll respect them." He wanted to drive the point home as much as he could.

"Let's get down to it," Mami then replied as she guided him to her bedroom. As they walked in, she closed and locked the door behind them. "There, now we'll have no distractions."

Azuma requested of her as she dimmed the lights, "Please, do tell me if I'm moving too fast or making you uncomfortable. I may be a year younger than you, but I'm still taller."

Mami giggled, thinking his concern for her even at this moment was cute. "Listen, I'm not scared. I know about sex, even if I've never had it. I'm not some little kid, and I know you aren't either. There are people my age at school who already have had sex, and given what I overheard Kyousuke and Sayaka talk about a few days ago, I think they're gonna have sex for the first time tonight, too." She then sat down on the bed. "We aren't innocent, you know. If anything, we're more dirty-minded now than we ever will be later on."

"I know for a fact they are," Azuma replied to her with a thumbs-up. "I talked to Sayaka and Homura, and I actually advised them to see if their partners were up for it."

Mami laughed in response, thinking Homura trying to seduce Madoka was hilarious. "That's some funny shit right there. I can imagine Homura trying to seduce her girlfriend already." She then noticed he was staring at her chest in anticipation. "Damn, you know your priorities. I like that."

"Oh," he replied in slight embarrassment. "I... My apologies."

"Come on," she replied jokingly as she undid her uniform and took off her undershirt. "We're literally going to bang, and you're embarrassed about staring? Look, I know what the boys at school have said about my boobs, and at this point, I've grown past the point of caring."

Azuma liked this confident version of Mami very much. "I would have never guessed this level of confidence from you."

"Eh," Mami replied. "Until I gained you guys, it really was just a cover for my own insecurities. Now, though, it's no longer a cover. It's just me." She then reached in and pulled his collar towards her. "Now, are we gonna keep talking, or are we going to get down and make love?" She pointed to an album cover mounted on the wall in her bedroom. "Speaking of which, I'm addicted to the album News Of The World as well as anything Queen in general, hence the song reference. Anyways, let's get to it. Late nights are the enemy of beauty, after all."

"A good taste in music," he noted. "Even more arousing." The two then kissed again as they slowly began to remove their clothing from each other, their inhibitions now completely gone.

 **...**

About an hour later, Madoka and Homura talked to one another while they laid in the pull-out bed in the basement. The lights were now off, and the two were visibly exhausted but joyful. Madoka asked her girlfriend, "How was it?" Her hair was no longer tied down, and she looked at the clock, reading a time of 10:35 PM.

"Well," Homura replied, not sure of how to answer and rather flustered. "It's sex. I can't think of a word to say aside from fun or loving or beautiful. What do you want me to say?"

"I'm glad it was with you," Madoka replied, laughing at her answer. "You are just... Homura-chan, you are so cute when you get all flustered like that. I'm glad to see you're not always brooding or quiet."

Homura blushed, one of many times she had done so that night, and replied back, "Th- Thank you, Madoka." They both then heard Madoka's phone vibrate. "I wonder who that is?"

Madoka grabbed her phone from a nearby lamp stand and opened it up to look at it. As soon as she opened her texts, she laughed at what Sayaka had sent her. "Wow... That's rather, uh, blunt."

She then showed Homura the text, making her eyes widen in response as she replied, "Oh my." The text was a picture of Sayaka and Kyousuke taking a selfie together after having had sex, of course with anything below the shoulders for Sayaka cut off, and reading out 'IT HAPPENED'.

Madoka then turned to her girlfriend with a similar idea. "Wanna send one back to her? Don't worry, we can use the blanket to cover us up or something. Come on, it'll be fun."

Homura eagerly replied to her, "Sure thing!" The two of them then shuffled a bit to pose, and just as Madoka snapped the picture, Homura kissed her on the cheek, slightly surprising her. After it was done, Madoka captioned it 'We went at it for an hour, hbu?' Homura smiled at the caption, proudly declaring, "If we live, I want to aim higher."

"I know we can go longer," Madoka replied as she stretched her arms and back. She then whispered into her ear, "If we don't live, I'll at least die together with you." She then planted a kiss on her forehead and hugged her. "'Not even death will tear us apart, Homura-chan."

Homura nodded. "I know, Madoka-chan. I know." She thought to herself as Madoka laid back down to go to sleep, _"I'm glad I didn't reverse time. Sure, she made a contract, but this feels right. This feels so right. It feels like all of my prayers have been answered."_

 _ **...**_

Later, around 11 PM, Azuma and Mami both began to fall asleep after the latter had just returned from the bathroom, the events previous to then still fresh in their minds. Thoughts of each other raced through their minds, as well as thoughts of what laid ahead. Mami thought to herself as she was drawn in for an embrace by Azuma, _"This... This moment truly is the happiest I've felt in a long time. It almost feels like us and this bedroom are the only things in the world right now, but... I know that's not true. Tomorrow, we face our toughest challenge yet, but for now, that doesn't matter."_

Azuma thought to himself as the embrace continued and they both drifted into sleep, _"You've done it. Sure, you may have probably horrified anyone watching this if my actions are somehow affecting the show in the old world, but who cares? I am no longer Michael Ridgeway. I am Inubouzaki Azuma, and Mitakihara is my home. Beside me is a girl who I thought I could never truly meet and always chalked up to being fiction, but ended up being so real. I've realized now that I've loved her even before we truly met, and now that we've faced the truth and been through our greatest challenges so far, our love is real."_

Kyubey stood over the two from a windowsill as they fell asleep, not realizing he had made his way into the room after they had finished, and thought to himself, _"Humans really are odd. They put a lot of emphasis on mating, and even do it when they don't actually want children or aren't prepared to have them. Who would come up with ways to mate but not achieve the desired end result of mating anyway? You know, it kind of feels like I shouldn't ask myself these questions, lest I go mad and end up on the receiving end of a forced re-education when I develop emotions as a result."_

 _ **...**_

Around the same time, Sayaka and Kyousuke were getting ready for bed together, pulling up the covers and laying down again. As Sayaka pulled covers over her, she gave Kyousuke a peck on the lips and told him, "For your sake and mine, let's try to live so we can do that again."

Kyousuke chuckled. "Don't worry. We will." He then have the bluenette a kiss on her forehead. "Sayaka-chan, I've dreamt of doing that with you ever since I knew what it was."

"Honestly," Sayaka replied in agreement. "Same. I wonder if Azuma-kun and Mami-san went through with it. I guess we'll find out tomorrow." She then brushed his gray hair away from his face. "I'll see you in the morning, my love. Good night."

"As to you," he replied as he closed his eyes. "Good night, Miki Sayaka."

"Maybe one day," she told him humorously. "It could be Kamijou Sayaka." The implication of them getting married, as well as the thought of seeing Sayaka in a wedding dress, earned a slight blush from him as she giggled. "You'd get to see me in a flowing white dress, and I'd get to see you in a tuxedo. Ah, I can already picture it."

"You're pretty silly," Kyousuke replied to her as he opened his eyes again. "But yes, I can see it, too, and you'd look absolutely beautiful in one." He then rushed slightly to assure her she was anyway. "Don't get me wrong, you're beautiful right now, but a wedding dress would be amazing."

"That won't be until later, though," she replied. "For now, let's stay young as long as we can. Speaking of, the night isn't getting any younger, and we gotta be up at like 5:30. Let's go to sleep." She then closed her eyes and began to drift away to sleep, with nothing but joyful thoughts in her mind, a first in a while since she had become a magical girl. Even so, she knew of the dangers that lay ahead.

Tomorrow, the whole gang would come together for their most arduous and dangerous task: the defeat of Walpurgisnacht. All of their hard work, their experience and training, and their team-building would come to fruition. None of them were sure if they would make it out alive, but they all knew that regardless, Walpurgisnacht had to be stopped once and for all.

 **...**

Kyouko had spent the night patrolling the city, deciding to give the team a much-needed break. Around midnight, she decided to call it for the night after having seen no witches or familiars, and plopped herself along an alley wall as she de-transformed. As she relaxed, she said to herself, "I'm going to regret staying up this late in the morning."

She then noticed a girl walking down the alleyway and got up. As she looked at her, she heard the girl yelp out of fright. "Aaah! Who's there?!" The voice was rather young, and seemed to belong to a girl around 11 or 12.

Kyouko told her, "Hey, don't be afraid, kid. I won't bite. What are you doing out here alone?" As she got closer, she could see that she had white hair and heterochromic orange and yellow eyes. "You seem to be lost."

"I am," she replied, still uneasy about Kyouko. "I woke up here. I was..." She then became hesitant to speak.

Kyouko, concerned for the girl, asked her, "What's going on? Did someone hurt you?"

"I was dead before I woke up here," she told her, much to the redhead's confusion before she revealed a ring on her left hand. "You see, I'm a magical girl, and until now, I was dead."

"Dead?!" Kyouko was shocked by the revelation. "Who are you?!"

"My name is Momoe Nagisa," she told her as she revealed her soul gem, which was oddly bright and full of life. "And my soul gem was dark before I died. I remember nothing after I closed my eyes and heard my soul gem break."

Kyouko then thought to herself, _"Come to think of it, what did Mami-chan tell me about that witch that nearly killed her when we were at Homura's house?"_ "By any chance, were you near a hospital when that happened?"

"Yeah," Nagisa affirmed to her. "I was near Mitakihara Medical Center. Why do you ask?"

Kyouko's jaw dropped upon receiving the answer. "You... You were a witch my friend killed. How are you standing in front of me?!"

Nagisa was now frightened by Kyouko's suggestion, and began to try to run before Kyouko grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards her. "A witch?! No way! I couldn't have been! I fight them!"

Kyouko sighed as she realized she would have to be the bearer of bad news. "Kid, calm down, okay? You aren't a witch now, which is what matters, but I do need to tell you the truth." She sat her down as she sat across from her and looked her over for any signs of injuries, finding none. _"This is gonna fucking suck. This girl's like an elementary schooler. How does a 10 or 11-year-old take the news that witches are actually corrupted magical girls? How does one break that to someone that young?"_


	11. Walpurgisnacht's Appearance

**_Walpurgusnacht_**

At 5:00 in the morning, the alarm in Mami's bedroom rang. Azuma stirred from bed, curled up naked next to Mami in bed. He quietly sat up and turned it off, looking at their clothing strewn out across the room from their lovemaking the night before. As he tiredly adjusted his eyes, he began to slip on his school uniform, gathering it from across the room. He looked over at Mami and noticed she was still sleeping, looking rather peaceful in her slumber. He smiled and turned on the lights before walking over to her and softly shaking her. "Mami-chan, Mami-chan."

The blonde then stirred from bed. "Ugh, is it 5:00 already?" She then sat up and adjusted her eyes, not caring that she was also nude. She then yawned as she stood up from bed and looked around for her school uniform. As she smiled at Azuma, she told him, "Last night was pretty fun."

"Yeah," he replied. He then looked at his phone to see if anyone had texted him. Sure enough, Homura, Sayaka, Kyousuke, Kyouko, and Madoka had all texted her. Homura, Madoka, Sayaka, and Kyousuke's texts were all about their own nights. He chuckled, saying to himself, "They took my advice. Nice." However, when he read Kyouko's texts, he dropped his phone in shock. "What?!"

Mami ran over as she was putting on her bra, asking him in concern, "Azuma-kun, what is it?!"

"Kyouko-chan met another magical girl," he replied as he showed her the texts. "But... This girl... Mami-chan, remember what I told you last night? Well, we found out in the old world that this girl was actually the witch that nearly killed you." He showed her a selfie Kyouko had taken with the girl, presumably after the shock had settled in and they had begun to get along.

"Charlotte?" Mami looked through the texts with curiosity. "Kyouko did say that this girl was dead before that day. That's her own words. She says her name is Momoe Nagisa."

"I know it is," he replied. "But I don't know how she came back. We literally killed her. Maybe my presence in this world is causing odd things to happen."

"You're fine," Mami assured him with a kiss. She then paused for a quick second before coming up with a devilish idea. "Hmmm... I need to take a shower." She then began to take her clothes off again. As she did, she looked Azuma directly in the eyes and asked him, "Wanna take one with me? We have time."

Azuma checked the time on the alarm clock and agreed. "You're right." He then took his clothes off as well. "Why don't we take one?" He then took her by the hand and led her to the shower in her bathroom, a rather well-furnished room with a glass shower and a small tub on the other end of the shower.

As they walked in, Mami reached into the shower and turned it on. She asked him, "Since you were from America, I bet it was kinda hard to navigate here in the bathrooms for a bit at first."

"It was," Azuma replied in total agreement. "Who's ever heard of toilets with buttons and shit on them? It was a completely different experience."

The blonde chuckled in response, amused by him. "Now, the water should be warm enough. Let's go in."

 **...**

About 30 minutes later, as the couple left the apartment building, Azuma wanted to stop at his place first to say goodbye to his parents. They both knew he had been at Mami's, but had no idea what had happened between them. As he let himself in, his mom was making herself and his father breakfast before they were to go to work. His mom was dressed in her fire department dispatch uniform, while his father was in a business casual suit.

His mom told him as he walked in, "Oh, hey, dear! How's it going?"

"Good," Azuma replied as Mami came in as well.

His dad said to them as he looked over from his newspaper, "Hello again, Tomoe-san!"

"Hello, Inubouzaki-san," she replied with a bow. "Now, we have something we want to tell you."

His mom looked over at the two as they sat down in two chairs next to each other and could guess what it was. As she smiled, she asked them, "Azuma, who is Mami to you now?"

Azuma looked over to her and held her hand. "She... She's my girlfriend."

His dad turned to his mom with a grin on his face and told her, "Looks like I won that bet, Kanako."

Kanako, both happy for the young couple and also slightly annoyed that she had lost a bet with her husband, replied as she pulled out her wallet, "You win this round, Sakutarou." She then handed him 1000 Yen. She then turned to her son and his girlfriend. "Do you two want to have breakfast with us?"

"Absolutely," Mami replied as they both got up and joined them. "By the way, as we eat, there's something I have to tell you all, too."

As Kanako served breakfast to all of them, she asked her, "What is it? You don't have to hold back. Me and my husband only made the one bet."

Mami chuckled in response. "Well, the truth is..." She then revealed her ring to them. "It has to do with this ring of mine."

"Oh yeah," Sakutarou replied, noticing it. "Where did you get that? It looks wonderful."

"It can't be bought in a store," Mami regretfully told them. "You see..." She struggled to word her confession to them in a way that would not sound too odd for a few seconds. "Uh... Okay, you know what? I'm not gonna beat around the bush any longer." She then stood up and held her right hand out as her soul gem appeared from her ring. "Watch this very carefully." A flash of light then engulfed the room for a split second before dissipating.

When the light vanished, Mami has transformed. Kanako and Sakutarou rubbed their eyes in disbelief. "You're a...," Kanako said in shock. "A magical girl?!"

"Indeed," Mami replied to them with a smile. "I have been for a while now. I don't normally tell most others, but you guys are an exception. Don't worry, your son already knows."

Sakutarou then told the group, "I see... You know, there's something else you should know, specifically my wife and my son." He then sighed. "Azuma, remember how I told you your aunt died when she was young?"

Kanako, realizing what he was about to tell him, asked her husband, "About Hotaru?"

"Yeah," Azuma replied to his father. "What's up?"

"She was a magical girl," he told him. "She died in combat, and if it weren't for me rescuing her body, she would have been a disappearance. Your mother and I wanted to wait to tell you until you were older, but... Circumstances changed."

Azuma was in pure disbelief. _"Holy shit... What a coincidence... I lied and said I had a cousin who was one to explain my knowledge, but as it turns out I actually did have a relative who was one!"_ He then asked his father, "How long was she one?"

"Two years," he replied as he continued his story. "The two of us were close growing up. She got me, the younger brother, into anime and the like, and when she caught wind she could be like her heroes, she jumped at the opportunity. Her wish was to save a cat who had been hit by a car from death. She had been unable to think of a wish until that point."

"I assume reality hit her pretty hard," Mami replied to him.

"It did," he replied as he began to recall what happened to his sister. "Hotaru-oneesan fought for two years, and it changed her from a happy bright teenager into a sulking depressed husk of who she once was. She shut herself off from relationships, and grew more distant, even from me. It hurt, especially considering I met my wife through her. After two years, she died in combat."

Kanako then placed a hand on Mami's shoulders and told her, "Please, whatever you do, don't let this shut you off from others. You don't have to do this alone."

"I know," Mami replied with a smile. "I haven't been alone ever since I met your son or our group of friends."

...

6:45 AM

The gang all met up at Homura's house, watching the weather using a laptop Azuma brought with him. As they all saw the storm system Walpurgisnacht generated move in, Azuma noted as he pointed on the screen, "Seems like the epicenter is about to strike us in the next 15-25 minutes."

"That's where Walpurgisnacht is," Homura replied. "We'll move out in the next few minutes."

"Before we do," Kyouko told the gang as she stood by a shy and reserved Nagisa. "Can we try to figure out the deal with this girl?"

The whole gang then looked at Nagisa, making her slightly cower behind Kyouko. Mami then smiled, telling her, "Come on, don't be shy. We don't bite." She then walked over to her and bent down on one knee. "Hey there. My name is-"

"Tomoe Mami," Nagisa finished her sentence, surprising the blonde. "I've seen you before, but under much different circumstances."

"I know," Mami replied. "But that's in the past. Look, you don't have to be afraid of us. Just because you may have been a witch in the past doesn't mean we're going to hurt you."

Nagisa then crept away from Kyouko and towards Mami. "I... I don't know why all this is happening... It's still so confusing..."

"Perhaps my existence in this timeline is breaking things," Azuma then told the gang, a surprising conclusion. "Think about it. I'm an anomaly. Someone like me doesn't happen in any other timeline. Perhaps my interactions with you all have caused things to break. Perhaps the universe is trying and failing to compensate for my actions."

Homura sighed. "Don't say that. You're fine. I know I was kind of a dick to you before, and I'm sorry." She then patted him on the back. "As far as I'm concerned, you're a part of the team."

Azuma, still not entirely convinced that Homura was right, asked Nagisa, "Say, Momoe-san, what do you remember when you woke up?"

...

 _ **The Day Before**_

In a flash, Nagisa woke up, sitting on a wall outside of a hospital in the city. As she awoke, she hyperventilated somewhat as her eyes adjusted to the dimming sunlight of the evening, as if she had been suffocated before waking up and was taking a minute to compensate. She then coughed a couple times before she rubbed her eyes and began to look around her. "What... Where... Where am I?" As she stood up, she turned around and recognized where she was. "The hospital?"

A nurse walking by noticed her and asked, "Hello? Are you alright?"

"I'm... I'm fine," Nagisa assured her as she dusted her clothes off. "Thank you, though." As the nurse shrugged and walked on by, Nagisa looked at the wall before her. "Why did I wake up here?" Then, she felt a wave of emotions hit her, as if she had been slammed into a brick wall. "Wait... No... I... My... My mother... My soul gem..." She then frantically reached for her pockets and quickly found her soul gem. Oddly, though, it was clear as day, with not a drop of darkness within. "How? Wait... Now I remember..." As she began to stumble away from the hospital, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she remembered her moments up to her waking up, she quietly sad to herself, "Mama... Mama's dead..." As she rounded a corner, she found an alleyway and proceeded to slump down in it when she was far enough into it, trying to avoid others. "I turned into my own enemy... After Mama died, I became... I became a witch... I almost killed my own kind..." As she buried her head into her knees and rolled over, she began to cry to herself. "Why... What's going on... Mama, I'm scared... Please, God, help me..."

As she lay there, she looked up at the sky, wondering what had transpired that led to her return. There was seemingly no way for a witch to return to her previous state as a magical girl, as she had found out rather abruptly. If so, why was she the exception? She was not terribly special nor powerful, being only 11 and going onto 12 later in the year and having been a magical girl for only a few months. Was there some other purpose she had to fulfill that she did not yet realize?

...

"I essentially stayed in that alleyway until Kyouko-oneechan found me," Nagisa concluded her explanation. "I know it's not the exact answer you were probably looking for, but it's all I can remember."

"Then that's our next mission," Homura replied to her. "We need to find out why and how Nagisa returned. It's clear that she has some purpose, but none of us know what that purpose is, not even her."

Kyousuke the noticed something on the laptop that frightened him, interrupting everyone as they looked over to him to see what was going on. "Holy crap! Look at that!" As the gang watched, the eye of the storm suddenly expanded in size without any reasoning or warning given. "It's... It's expanding!"

"The wind is picking up," Sayaka noted as the wind outside began to howl louder. Then, without warning, the power went out, darkening the entire room. "Aaaaand there goes the power. Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Let's go," Homura replied as she turned on a flashlight she pulled from her shield. "Walpurgisnacht is here." She then grabbed Madoka by her school uniform's tie and pulled her in for a quick kiss. After they split, Homura told her, "Please, come back to me."

"I will," Madoka assured her before giving her girlfriend a tight embrace. The two lovers also held hands as they hugged, telling each other through their body language to stay safe and return. "Homura, please do the same." To brighten up the mood for her, she grinned and whispered in her girlfriend's ear, "If you do, we can find a place to hide for a few hours afterwards, if you catch my drift." As she giggled, Homura intensely blushed, immediately knowing what she was implying.

After Mami and Azuma embraced, Kyouko asked them, "Hey, I got an idea for a team name. Wanna hear it?"

"A team name?" Mami was keenly interested. "Why not?"

"I haven't forgotten this," Kyouko told her as she pulled out a necklace from under her shirt, producing a necklace shaped like an Arc Reactor from the MCU movies with the text "Proof That Tony Stark Has a Heart." Azuma was amazed that such a popular movie franchise in his old world was popular in his new world too. "It's a bit corny, but what about the Avengers?"

"I love it," Mami assured her. "Don't worry. It's not corny. It's fine." She then turned to Homura. "Akemi-san, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"I want to say something over the radio to everyone before we march into battle," Mami asked of her. "Is that fine?"

"Keep it short," Homura advised her. "But sure."

"It will be," Mami replied with a thumbs-up.


	12. Will It Work?

The girls gathered at the dockyards as they awaited Walpurgisnacht. Surprisingly, around them, the wind had barely affected them despite reaching record breaking speeds elsewhere in the city. Homura turned to the group and told them, "Okay, get your radios ready. Cell towers are down across the city."

As everyone turned on their radios, Azuma radioed back from Homura's house, "Dispatch to any units that can hear us."

"Violet Traveler," Homura replied with a codename that had been agreed upon earlier. "Violet Traveler is on the air."

"Okay then," Azuma replied over the radio. "The anemometer you installed is reading ridiculously high wind speeds. I got speeds of up to around 330 kilometers per hour at some points. Air pressure is also ridiculously high. I got around 25 hectopascals. I am pretty sure that your house is going to be destroyed, so me and Kyousuke set up shop in the basement."

Homura's eyes widened with horror. "Received," she replied. She then sighed. "Shit... Those winds are super high."

"Okay," Kyouko asked, confused by the terms used. "What does hecto-whatever mean?"

"It's a measurement of air pressure," Homura explained to her. "For comparison, most strong cyclones don't go above 20 hectopascals of central air pressure, and the strongest one ever hit 25 hectopascals. Also, those wind speeds are super high. Girls, we may be in for the most destructive storm ever recorded in human history."

Everyone was deeply concerned, not just for themselves, but for their family and friends throughout the city. Sayaka in particular was worried. "My parents are home. Oh my God... My house isn't far from where you set up the weather measuring equipment, Homura-chan."

"If we destroy this witch sooner," Mami replied to her. "The destruction won't be as bad. We can focus on rescuing civilians afterwards. Right now, if we don't fight this witch, more people will die."

"Guys," Madoka said as she saw a cloud of fog approach from the waterfront. "Is that our cue to begin?"

"It is," Homura replied. She then turned to her left. "She will approach from this way. She has an army of familiars that need to be taken care of as well."

Then, they were all interrupted by a small flash of light from Nagisa's direction. When it dissipated, she had transformed into her magical girl self. As the gang looked at her in surprise, she told them, "What? I wanna be ready."

"Right," Mami replied. "I suppose now is the time." She held her ring out as the other five girls did the same. Then, in a quick flash of light, all five of them transformed, ready for combat. As they finished, they could see shapes moving in the fog ahead of them, heading in their direction.

Kyouko turned to Mami and asked her as she readied her weapon. "What was that thing you were gonna say?"

"You'll see," Mami assured her with a smile as the rest of the gang got ready, their weapons drawn and primed for fighting.

"Violet Traveler to Dispatch," Homura radioed to her house.

Kyousuke replied over the radio, "Go ahead."

"Ready for combat," she replied before pulling out a stolen MP5 from her shield and cocking it. "Start the clock."

"Received," he replied. "At 0635."

Mami then keyed up on the radio, shouting so all could hear her. "AVENGERS!" She paused to form a musket in her other hand as she took a deep breath and stared down at the massive army of familiars before her. "Assemble!" Kyouko smiled, glad that her old friend remembered the famous quote.

The whole gang of six then charged at the army, yelling and roaring as they began to fight. When one familiar with a black and red body attempted to hit Sayaka across her chest, she ducked and decapitated it with ease with a cutlass. Meanwhile, Mami used larger muskets formed in quick succession to take care of the much larger elephant-type familiars that were in her path, picking them off rather easily. Homura jumped on top of several small circus train-like cars carrying familiars and pumped them full of bullets from her MP5, killing all inside them before quickly reloading and jumping to the next car. Throughout all of this, Nagisa, Kyouko, and Madoka all ran past the familiars, trying to reach Walpurgisnacht as fast as they could.

 **...**

Back at Homura's basement, Azuma and Kyousuke kept monitoring as many public safety radio frequencies as they could. Azuma's mom was working as a fire/ambulance dispatcher, and had called him. He had lied to her and told her he had made it to a shelter. In a lull in communications with the girls, the two talked about each other. "How long's your mother been a dispatcher?"

"17 years," he replied. "She really enjoys it. She's on the radios today, as you can tell by her voice on the scanner." He then paused to read a weather report on a computer. After reading it, he asked him, "Kyousuke-kun, I don't mean to get personal with you, but..."

"What is it?" The violinist did not mind answering personal questions from him. "You can ask. Is it about the accident I had?"

"No," Azuma shook his head. "It's about Sayaka-chan. Did you and her go the whole way?"

Kyousuke blushed intensely in response as he nodded. "Did... Did you and Tomoe-san?"

"Yeah," he affirmed with a nod. "The reason I wanted to ask you is... Tomoe-san said she took the pill and stuff, but I'm still worried. I didn't use a condom, and the last thing I want to do is bring a child into the world of the ruins of Mitakihara."

Kyousuke immediately froze up in response. "Sh-she took the pill?" He then rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Damn it, I could have gone to the store and..."

Azuma was now worried about him. "Kyousuke, tell me the truth. Does Sayaka take a birth control pill?"

"No," Kyousuke shook his head as the realization hit him.

"Did you use a condom?"

"No," he again affirmed. "Fuck... We were so wrapped up in the idea that we were going to die today and that we wanted to do that before we were killed that it never entered our heads." He then banged a fist on the table. "Fucking hell, if she's pregnant, I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself."

"Calm down," Azuma assured him. "It takes a few days for that to occur, if it ever does. I'm sure if you asked your parents, they'll tell you it took more than a few tries to conceive you. According to research, one instance of unprotected sex only has a 2.5% chance of pregnancy."

"You're right," Kyousuke replied as he began to calm down. "But... What if it does happen?"

"Well," Azuma told him with a smile. "Then the baby's gonna have an awesome extended family of about five aunts and an uncle." He then gave him a fist bump. "We're gonna stick together, and if Sayaka-chan does end up expecting, we'll support you, whether you decide to keep it or not. I don't judge. It will be difficult, but we will be damned if we don't offer assistance. Now, how about something more light-hearted?" Changing subjects to something more funny, he asked him, "How did you and Sayaka-chan enjoy it?"

"It was a bit awkward at first," Kyousuke replied, thinking back to last night. "But we got the hang of it in a few minutes."

"I'm surprised you lasted that long with her," Azuma joked, patting him on the shoulder. "Nothing can compare to Mami-chan, but Sayaka's pretty hot, too." As Kyousuke was about to ask him a question, he cut him off with, "About 8 minutes of the actual thing, plus about 12 minutes of other stuff before. This morning, it was a bit faster since we had to be out of there sooner, about 10 minutes overall." The two then shared a laugh together.

 **...**

Back on the battlefield, Madoka, Kyouko, and Nagisa had reached Walpurgisnacht, and the others were rapidly catching up. "I gotta say," Kyouko told Madoka as she readied her spear. "Battling all those familiars was fun as hell."

"You got that right," she replied. "Now, once Homura-chan gets here, the general attack plan will commence."

"I'm here," Homura exclaimed as she ran up to them. "Tomoe-san and Miki-san are taking care of the rest of the familiars. Now, everyone, tie this red string to yourselves." She then provided Madoka, Kyouko, and Nagisa with red string. After about a minute of tying, all four were tied together. "When I pause time, we're gonna stay moving. If the string breaks, you pause with time." She then adjusted her shield. "Now, for the fun part."

As she pulled a full-sized mortar from her shield, albeit with a little bit of difficulty, Kyouko's jaw dropped. "Holy shit," she told her. "You can fit that in your shield?"

"My shield has a pocket dimension where I can store weapons of various sizes," Homura explained to her with a smile. "It's very useful. Now, I got about 20 of these mortars I stole from the JGSDF. We'll place five of them each on the ground and fire them. When the rounds are fired off, they'll pause, and when I unpause time, all the rounds will fly off and hit Walpurgisnacht at once. To fire it, just click the

Nagisa asked Homura as she raised her hand, "Is it gonna be loud?"

"Yeah," Homura replied. "If you want, I can grab you a pair of safety ear muffs."

The young girl shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. I can soldier through it. Hand me a mortar."

After several minutes, the team had set up all 20 mortars in two rows of 10 each. Once they were done, Homura began pulling out rounds and handing them off. "Just drop them in, and when time pauses, they'll hit their target."

"Sounds like a plan," Kyouko assured her with a thumbs-up. Within a short period of time, they had loaded up all of the mortars. Once Kyouko loaded the last mortar, she yelled over to Homura, "Ready to go! Fire away!"

"Unpausing time," Homura called out as she adjusted her shield. As soon as she did, time unpaused, and all of the mortars fired at once, the sound deafening the four girls for a few seconds before the rounds all hit their targets, making Walpurgisnacht scream in pain as the rounds all impacted and exploded.

Madoka, as she fired off several rounds of arrows at Walpurgisnacht to augment the mortars, asked Homura, "What's the plan now, honey?"

The nickname made Homura blush slightly. "Uh, well, Madoka-chan, we're gonna pause time again, and we're gonna use your arrows this time."

"Got it," Madoka replied.

"Kyouko, Nagisa, you guys will pause this time." Homura then cut their red strings. "I'll only need Madoka for this round."

"Got it," Nagisa and Kyouko replied as Homura adjusted her shield again, freezing everything in place. Once everything was in place, Homura pulled out a Panzerfaust 3 recoiled rifle.

"Damn," Madoka uttered to herself. "How many weapons does she steal?"

"Madoka-chan," Homura instructed her. "Fire off as many arrows as possible. I'll fire off as many Panzerfaust 3 rounds as I can. Contrary to its appearance, this isn't actually a rocket launcher." Homura began to explain the technical aspects of the weapon to Madoka, showing off her technical expertise. "The German-made Panzerfaust 3 is a recoiless rifle, meaning it uses something to negate any recoil. In most recoiless rifles, it's like saltwater or something. This is disposable, meaning that once it's fired, it's garbage. Thankfully, I stole like 20 of these. These are mostly meant as an anti-tank weapon, and fire a 110-millimeter warhead from a 60-millimeter-caliber barrel. The rounds I'm going to be using for today..." She then pointed to the round mounted on the Panzerfaust 3. "Are armor-piercing rounds. I've found through time-traveling experience that Walpurgisnacht's skin acts much like thick armor, and explosives are needed to penetrate it. These rounds are the most effective for dealing with Walpurgisnacht, and believe me, a lot of trial and error went through my tactics here."

"It's pretty cute hearing you geek out over weapons like that," Madoka could not help but remark with a chuckle.

Homura blushed again at the remark from her girlfriend. "Th-Thank you... Anyway, let's fire away."

 **...**

As Kyousuke sat at his desk back at dispatch, the wind outside blowing and howling away, he thought to himself about it, _"Christ. The wind sounds like the very bowls of Hell at this point. This storm is breaking all sorts of records."_ He then began tapping his pen on a notepad.

"You know," Azuma then asked him. "Does it ever feel like reality is unrealistic?"

"In what way?" Kyousuke stopped his pen-tapping, confused by the question.

"I mean," he began as he thought to himself. "It... It feels like our lives for the past few months have been like a cliche. No one would have guessed that magical girls were actually real, much less that we'd regularly interact with them, know several of them personally, or even date two of them."

"When you put it that way," Kyousuke replied to him as Azuma crumpled up a blank post-it note and threw it away in a nearby trash bin. "Yeah, I guess. If someone wrote this as an anime or a book or something, I don't know if it would do well. "Too dark," they may say, for it to be a magical girl anime or something, or "too gay" since we got Madoka and Homura dating each other."

Azuma then chuckled. "Well, then again, I'm sure there are many circles that would like to see yuri in a show like this." He thought to himself as he continued his little rant, _"Holy shit, I think the cast is becoming self-aware."_ "Given the two of us are actively dating two of the girls," he continued. "I'm sure the fandom would hate us, like, a lot, for getting in the way of that sweet girl on girl action." The two of them then laughed hard, Kyousuke finding the idea ridiculous, but Azuma laughing because he knew it was true.

"I've heard of otaku acting like that," Kyousuke replied after he calmed himself down. "You clearly know more on the subject than I do." An alarm on his phone then rang. "Ah, 10 minutes." He then keyed up his mic on his radio. "Dispatch to Violet Traveler, you are 10 minutes in."

"Received," Homura replied back on the radio. "Most of the familiars are down. I have Blue Warrior and Gold Rifleman taking care of them at this time. Myself, Rose Bowman, Red Phantom, and White Trumpeter are engaging Walpurgusnacht now, no progress at this time. No injuries reported yet."

"Received," Kyousuke replied as he paused from writing stuff down on his notepad. "At 0646."

"You are right," Azuma admitted to him. "I am more of an expert on this than most people. It helps I was raised by two anime and manga fans. Anyway, I think that if you told some random person our stories, they'd think we're insane and need to be put in a mental hospital. The truth is, reality is often stranger than fiction."

 **...**

Back on the battlefield, the gang had managed to now kill all the familiars. It was now 6:59 AM, and the Madoka had given another 10-minute report a few minutes prior in Homura's place. As Walpurgisnacht floated above, in severe pain from the damage it had taken thus far but still standing, the team discussed their next plan. Homura told Mami, "Okay, Tomoe-san, we're gonna weaken Walpurgisnacht further, and on Madoka's signal, I need you to Tiro Finale the witch to kill it."

Mami was a bit concerned that her attack was not going to be strong enough. "Will it work? I don't know if Tiro Finale will be enough."

"Put as much energy as you can into it," Kyouko assured her with a pat on her shoulder. "And you'll be fine."

The blonde then sighed. "Okay, but before I do, I need to talk on the radio." She then keyed up her mic on her portable radio and said, "Gold Rifleman to Dispatch."

"Go ahead," Azuma replied.

"Azuma-kun, it's me, Mami," she addressed in a rather personal tone. "This is going to be it. What happens next is going to decide if we live or die, and I want to talk to you before that happens." She then let out a sigh. "Inubouzaki Azuma, I love you, and for however long I have left in this world, I want to spend it with you. I know us magical girls don't live very long after our contracts are made, so I want to make our time together count. After all this is settled and we get our homes back or get new ones, I want to live with you. I'm done with living on my own, and I think the friendships I've made and the love I've gained and made with you, and of course the love we've made to each other, has proven that." She let out a small chuckle with her last remark. "Anyway, if we die, we will still be together in death, and if we live, we will remain together in life." She began to choke up during the previous line, tears flowing down her face. "I know you've heard me say it before a lot, but I cannot express enough how much I love you."

Azuma paused, causing several seconds of silence on the radio as he took everything in. He then replied back, "I love you, too. Tomoe Mami, my parents and I would be more than happy to take you in if that's what you desire. It hurt so much seeing you live alone, and to hear that you've hurt so much as a result only stings more. I think I can speak on everyone's behalf here when I say that we all will make sure that you will never be alone again. But enough of the sad melodramatic shit. We got a witch we need to kill. For the sake of humanity, and for the sake of our city, we will win."

"You're God damn right," Mami replied back on the radio. She then turned to Homura. "You know what to do."

"Right on it," she replied with an affirmative nod. For a split second, Homura disappeared from view, and when she reappeared a few feet away, a field of 50 mortars had appeared before the whole team. Immediately afterwards, all 50 fired at once, all aimed at Walpurgisnacht. Again, the sound was deafening for a few seconds as all 50 rounds went off at once and then lit up the morning sky with explosions, further weakening Walpurgisnacht as the dust settled. "Okay, I'm out of mortars."

Sayaka replied in disbelief, "You had that many?!"

"Plus 20 more earlier," Kyouko added, further surprising Sayaka as her jaw dropped. "Yeah. Me, Nagisa-chan, Madoka-chan, and Mami-chan all helped her load and fire them."

Sayaka then blinked and rubbed her eyes with her gloved hands before shaking her head. "Okay... Now that we got that out of the way, what's next?"

"This is," Madoka replied as she began to rapid-fire arrows from her bow. "Mami-san, now!"

"Of course," Mami replied with a wink and a smile as she formed ribbons around her. The ribbons then began to take the form of a tripod before taking further form into a large-diameter cannon with the butt and trigger of a musket sticking out of the end for Mami to hold on to. As the ribbons continued to form into a rather exquisite and well-designed cannon that was even larger than her normal Tiro Finale, over five times the size, the whole gang stood back in awe. The cannon was many times Mami's size, and dwarfed the entire team.

"That's a huge fucking gun," Kyouko remarked to herself in pure awe. "Hooooly shit..."

Mami heard her and turned around with a grin. "Well, Walpurgisnacht is a huge fucking witch. A huge fucking witch needs a huge fucking gun." She then turned back around as the cannon finished loading. "Though I gotta say, this is the largest I've ever formed before. You might wanna cover your ears!" She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay." After aiming the cannon at Walpurgisnacht, she yelled out, "Smile, bitch!" She then pulled the trigger while shouting, "TIRO FINALE MASSIMO!"

Immediately, a blinding yellow light and a loud blast occurred, and a giant musket shell flew out of the cannon before impacting Walpurgisnacht in the chest. Upon impact, the witch disappeared behind an explosion as a loud scream of pain was heard. The entire team had to look away due to the brightness of the two blasts, and when the light dissipated and the team looked over, Walpurgisnacht had begun to fade away. As the colossal witch slowly turned into dust and faded away, the team looked on in awe, wondering if they had finally won.

Homura, of all of them, was the most affected, falling to her knees in shock. She had spent countless hours, days, weeks, months, and years trying and failing to kill Walpurgisnacht, and she had finally succeeded with the entire team coming out alive. "Oh... Oh my God... We... We did it..."

As she began to cry, Madoka knelt down in front of her to comfort her. "Babe, we did it. We saved the world." She then held Homura by the chin and gave her a kiss to both celebrate and cheer her up, tasting her tears on her lips as she did so. As the two continued to lock lips, the gang all began cheering and clapping.

Sayaka radioed back to Azuma and Kyousuke, "Blue Warrior to Dispatch."

"Go ahead," Azuma replied back.

"Walpurgisnacht E-KIA," Sayaka triumphantly replied back to him. "Walpurgisnacht E-KIA."

"Received," Azuma replied, Sayaka clearly hearing her boyfriend cheering in the background. "Walpurgisnacht E-KIA at 0707 hours."

Mami patted Kyouko on the back, telling her, "We did it..."

"Yeah," she replied as the two stared out into the ruined landscape before them. The storm had begun to dissipate, but the devastation was immense. After staring into the distance for about a minute, Mami looked down. "Kyouko-chan, I'm sorry." She had to finally address the elephant in the room with her.

The redhead initially did not know what she meant by that, but it soon came to her. "I know." She then sighed. "How long have you known?"

"I've known that you've felt that way for a while," Mami replied to her as she gave her a hug. "Kyouko, I love you, but... I can't love you in that way, and it hurts. It hurts so much, because I know how much pain it must put you through." The blonde then silently began to cry as she sunk her head into Kyouko's shoulder. "You had every right to leave me behind."

"No, stop," Kyouko assured her. "Please, don't cry about it. How I've felt about you shouldn't hurt you. The last thing I want is to hurt you." She then held her head and wiped her face of tears. "Come on, Mami-chan, don't say that. Despite everything that happened, I missed you every single day you were gone. I want you in my life, even if it's as a close friend. Don't let me get you down, and I swear, if you let it... If you let it hurt your relationship with Azuma-kun, I won't forgive you or myself. He's a nice man, and he's someone you need in your life." She then wiped her own eyes. "Damn it, now you got me crying, too. Anyway, I know it hurts, but I've dealt with worse pain. Tomoe Mami, let me be your best friend, and I will be more than happy to stay that way." She then took the blonde's right hand and placed a soft kiss on it.

Mami smiled as she took everything in. "I will, Sakura Kyouko. I will." The two then shook hands, affirming their everlasting friendship.


	13. The Drowned City

_**July 1, 2024**_

After the battle had ended, Kyousuke and Azuma turned off their laptops and scanners, packing them away in book bags, but keeping their personal radios on. Around 7:35 AM, the two made their exit from Homura's basement after the storm had died down. However, as they walked up the stairs and attempted to force open the overhead cellar door, they found that it was stuck. As Azuma pushed against the door to no avail, he screamed, "Fuck! I think the door's jammed!"

"Or it's buried by something," Kyousuke replied as he got behind him to help him push. Finally, they were able to get it to budge, and after several more seconds, they flung it open, moving several pieces of debris that were holding down to the side as they emerged. As soon as they came out and looked around, they were in total shock at what laid ahead of them. Where Homura's house had been was now nothing but a field of debris, and around them, every single building had been destroyed. Kyousuke cried out, "My city is gone! My entire life is gone! Oh my God!"

As he began to essentially have a mental breakdown at the thought of everything he knew being destroyed, Azuma called over on the radio, "Dispatch to Violet Traveler."

"Go ahead," Homura replied.

"Your house is gone," Azuma bleakly replied. "In fact, I think all of our homes are. Mitakihara is gone."

 **...**

At 8:06 AM, the now de-transformed gang made it back to what was the site of Homura's house. As soon as they came within eyesight of each other, Kyousuke and Azuma ran to them. Kyousuke hugged Sayaka tightly, his emotions getting to him as he began to cry. "Thank God... I thought I had lost you!"

Sayaka smiled and returned the hug, telling him, "There, there... I'm fine. I'm just glad we all made it out alive."

Azuma ran to Homura and Mami, informing them of the situation. "Okay, so yeah, your house is gone, Homura-chan. What happened to your parents?"

"They were out of town anyway," Homura replied. "I was expecting nothing less than total destruction of my home, to be honest. Even so, it still hurts." She then looked over to the rubble and sighed to herself in pity. "This sucks."

Mami then turned to Azuma, telling him, "Azuma-kun, I'm so glad you're alright. I was so worried for you because of the storm." She then gave him a quick peck on the lips.

Madoka then called everyone's attention. "Everyone, can I say something for a bit?" As everyone turned to her, she began with, "Okay, so, when we killed Walpurgisnacht, we all know it dropped one giant grief seed, which all six of us used to purify our soul gems. However, me and a few others also observed it drop many, many, many regular-sized grief seeds as well. I was able to recover five, and Sayaka was able to recover three, but many more are still out there. If we find them before we hatch, we'll store them in a safe place for all six of us to use. Of course, I bet at least some will hatch, so we need to be extra vigilant. Since we have access to Homura-chan's basement, we'll use that as our base of operations for now and store them there."

"Agreed," Kyouko replied, adding on to Madoka's statement. "In fact, I picked up two on the way here." She then handed them both to Madoka after grabbing them from her green jacket. "Here you go, Madoka-chan."

"Aside from that," Nagisa added. "We still need to figure out how I came back from the dead. It may be really important to our fight."

"Indeed," Madoka replied to her. "Holy Sextet, lets roll out."

The whole gang was confused by the title, wondering what it meant and why it sounded similar to sex. Mami raised her hand and asked Madoka, "Uh, Sextet?"

"It meant group of six," Madoka told her. "Me and Homura-chan came up with it. There's six of us magical girls, so it makes sense." She was perplexed as to why the name was confusing. "Come on, are we really gonna laugh over the whole sextet part? Four of us aren't virgins anymore."

Sayaka was the first to break, laughing in response to Madoka's remark, followed by Mami. Even Azuma and Kyousuke got in, and then the rest of the group, even Homura. Madoka shook her head as Homura told her, "I'm sorry, we had to."

 **...**

 ** _July 2, 2024_**

In the privacy of the ruins around them, Sayaka and Kyousuke had made love for the first time since Walpurgisnacht, Sayaka having done so in her magical girl uniform. As they got dressed again and Kyousuke tossed a used condom into a pile of stones nearby, he told his girlfriend, "I can't wait to actually fuck in a bed for once again. Doing this on the bare ground is just dirty."

"Isn't the entire act itself kinda dirty anyway?" Sayaka was amused by Kyousuke's apprehension. "Who cares if it's on a bed or not? It feels good, especially when I'm with a partner like you." She then adjusted her cape and gave Kyousuke a quick peck on the cheek. "Even better than last time."

Then, as the two finished adjusted their clothing, they both stopped as they heard an odd sound from within the rubble. "What was that?" Kyousuke looked around for where the sound came from. Then, they heard it again more clearly.

"It sounds like it's coming from the rubble below us," Sayaka told him. She then peered through a small crack in the rubble and yelled, "Hello?!"

Immediately, she got a moan back in response. As she recoiled back in shock, Kyousuke asked her, "What was it?!"

"There's a person in there," Sayaka replied as she began to dig away at the rubble with her hands. "I heard a moan! Help me dig!"

"Got it," Kyousuke replied as she ran over to her and began to dig. "Hold on," he yelled down to the person possibly trapped. "We're coming!" The rubble was tough and sharp, hurting their hands, but they did not care. Someone's life was at stake, and both of them were going to do as much as they could to rescue them in the place of nonexistent professional help.

After a minute, they had managed to dig a hole out from the bricks that was wide enough for Sayaka to sneak into. "Okay, dig it it a bit more, and I'll crawl in."

"On it," Kyousuke replied. Once they moved a few more bricks, Sayaka bent down and crawled in legs-first, her body barely fitting in as Kyousuke picked up and tossed more bricks away.

Inside the rubble, it was dark, and Sayaka was having a hard time moving around among the rebar and concrete in what was once a basement. "Hello?! Help is on the way! Where are you?!"

"Here," a male voice shouted back near her. "Can you see me?!"

"No," Sayaka replied back, being unable to see much in front of her in the darkness, crawling on her hands and knees. After crawling towarss the direction of the voice, she noticed she had cut up her knee on some rebar, but did not care. "Well, I'll have to take care of that later." The blood dripping from the cut was not an important matter to her.

Then, she felt something soft with her right hand. "You're kneeling on me!"

"Alright," Sayaka replied as she looked down and found her victim. He was a middle-aged man in a suit, pinned by some concrete on his leg. "Sir, how bad are you hurt?"

"My leg," he said to her as he pointed to his left leg. "My leg is broken!"

"Shit," Sayaka said to herself. "Okay, sir, this may hurt a bit." She then placed her hands over the piece of concrete over the leg and lifted up on it, causing the man to moan even more in pain. "Okay, I'm moving it. Here we go." As she moved the piece of concrete fully out of the way, she told him, "Okay, now we gotta figure out how to get you out." She slipped her hands underneath his shoulders to drag him. "Sir, I may break something of your's doing this, but I think you'd prefer life over limb."

"Exactly," he replied. "Just get me the fuck out of here!" As Sayaka began to drag him, he let out more moans in pain all over his body. "Agh... Keep moving!"

 **...**

Later that night, Sayaka, now wearing several bandages around her body from several rescues she and Kyousuke had made over the day, checked in with Homura at their base camp. As she walked in, she met several familiar faces that made her jaw drop. "Madoka's parents?!"

Junko saw her and her eyes widened. "Sayaka! You're here!" She then waved her in. "Come here! Thank God you're alright!"

"What are you guys doing here?" Sayaka was relieved to see they were alright, but was confused as to why they were at the base camp.

"We know," Tomoya confirmed as he held Tatsuya. "Madoka found us and told us everything. We... It was a lot to take in, but we got bigger issues to worry about."

Azuma and his parents were also there. They had never met the rest of the gang aside from Mami before. "You have a great group of friends," Kanako told her son. "And you were a great friend to them."

"Thank you," Azuma replied to his mom. "How was working the storm?"

"It was hell," Kanako simply told her son and Mami. "It really was. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not at work now." She then sighed and wiped her forehead of sweat. "All emergency services are suspended now, and the national government was completely unprepared for the storm, hence the lack of response here."

Mami, interested in finding something out, asked her, "I gotta ask. Do you remember taking calls for an accident on Route 67 back in 2021?"

Kanako paused for a second, a wave of memories crashing into her as she recalled the incident Mami was referring to with sadness. "I know... It was a bad accident. I was working overtime and I got the first call. Five people died in that pileup. First call I took was a guy who died in it. He burned to death on the phone with me, and after his phone disconnected, I took another call from a man trapped in his own car."

"You helped save my life," Mami told her as she offered a hand to her. "Thank you. My parents died in that wreck, and knowing that you were part of the response, I want to thank you."

Kanako was a bit taken back by the revelation. "I... I see... Well, I..." She took her hand and shook it. "I'm glad to hear that. That was one of the calls that stuck with me. I've taken many bad ones, but that one took the cake, especially the one where the man burned to death on the phone with me."

Mami then surprised her with a hug. "I... I'm just..." She then chuckled as a tear fell from her eyes. "I'm just so moved that you guys do that. God, why am I so emotional right now?" She was clearly overcome by her emotions and gratefulness for Kanako.

"It's fine," the older woman comforted Mami with by returning the hug. "Many people say that when they meet the first responders that saved their lives." As they split, Kanako bowed to her and told her, "I'm no hero, though. I'm just doing my job."

 **...**

"Okay," Homura checked in with the entire gang as they all gathered around her. "We can now confirm that the parents of Kaname Madoka and Inubouzaki Azuma are safe. However..." She then sighed as some emotions filled her voice. "My parents, Miki Sayaka's parents, and Kamijou Kyousuke's parents are still missing. Obviously, Tomoe Mami's parents, Sakura Kyouko's parents, and Momoe Nagisa's parents were already dead before the storm." She then held up pictures of her family, Kyousuke's family, and Sayaka's family. "Remember these faces, and be on the lookout for them. We need to find them, alive or..." She then paused as she hesitated to state the alternative. "Or dead."

"On it," Madoka affirmed to her. "We will find them."

 **...**

In a flooded house in the outskirts of the city, a group of about 20 met in the unflooded third floor of the building, whereas the first floor was still flooded. They all varied in age, sex, and looks, some being young and some being old. All met for one reason: To hear one man speak.

"Welcome, my Heavenly Council," the man began, He had greying hair and appeared in his 60s. "Today is the day that the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace of Mitakihara will rise. With this wrath by God brought upon us, we shall unleash even more of it soon." As his followers talked among themselves in agreement, the man thought to himself, _"And this is where you shall rise, Matsumoto Akio. You shall rise to bring Japan to a new era of connection with God."_


	14. I Must Act

_**July 4, 2024**_

Along the rooftop of Mitakihara Middle School, students stood and watched over the ruined city. Still cut off from all outside help, they had taken up arms utilizing a variety of improvised weaponry and stolen guns from the local police stations and a nearby JGSDF facility. A telling sign of the times came when CNN came to the city. The students, while overjoyed to see people who cared, were angry that news media was able to get in sooner than relief, and they expressed it very explicitly to the reporters, who largely shared their sentiment.

Meanwhile, the gang, who had joined in the defense of the school, began to unwind after several straight days of rescues and battles. However, one gang in the city piqued their interest, and not for good reasons.

...

As Azuma cleaned an M16's barrel, he wiped sweat off of his forehead in the hot summer heat. He asked Mami nearby, "Dear, can you hand me a magazine?" Azuma was shirtless, wearing only his uniform pants, while Mami wore a t-shirt and a skirt.

"Yeah," Mami replied as she handed him a 20-round box magazine. "We're starting to run a bit low on 5.56mm rounds, so be careful." She then drank some water from a bottle she had next to her. "This heat is killing me. I really wish I could go shirtless without a bunch of morons here gawking at me."

"Hey, come on," Azume replied, playfully feeling offended. "I won't gawk too much."

"Oh, shut up," Mami playfully replied to her boyfriend. "You've seen so much more than that anyway." She then sighed and aired her shirt out.

Azuma, feeling the need to ask his girlfriend something important, changed the subject, asking her, "Mami-chan, I need to ask you something."

"What is it?" The blonde turned to him.

"It's been so busy for the past few days," Azuma noted to her. "We've barely spent any time alone together. Hell, we haven't had sex since Walpurgisnacht came."

Mami nodded, sad that he was correct. "You're right. Miki-san and Kamijou-san have found the time for their own moments, and so have Kaname-san and Akemi-san. Tell you what, Azuma-kun? We'll take a walk together alone, maybe find a nice spot secluded from anyone else, and... You know." She then leaned in and playfully gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing him to laugh and hug her.

"I'm glad to see you smile again," Azuma told her. "We haven't had a lot of that since what happened."

"Are you, like, weirded out by me being so forward?" Mami was a bit self-conscious about admitting her own desires to Azuma, even after all this time. "Most boys I feel like would be kinda put off by a girl who was so... So direct with this."

Azuma sighed and nodded. "You gotta understand. Much of my personality isn't from here. Where my old life was, girls were more expressive. They didn't have to hold any of that in."

"I have an interest in sex, too, you know," the blonde pointed out. "Boys aren't the only ones with dirty thoughts, contrary to what some think." She then looked towards the sky. "Anyway, the whole world is watching us now, and they're just as angry as us. It's ridiculous we've waited this long for help."

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by gunshots nearby. The two looked down below and saw several pickup trucks suddenly pull up to the school, all carrying multiple armed persons in them. The leading truck carried a crudely-made yellow flag on it with a white dragon on it, and the pole above the flag was arranged in a cross. Azuma grabbed a t-shirt and a bulletproof vest off the ground and ran with Mami to a few other students along the roof who aimed their guns at the gang. "Who the fuck is that?!"

"It's a gang that's been harassing groups of survivors in Mitakihara," Shino Nakazawa told him as he aimed a hunting rifle at them. "These idiots claim to be the successor to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. These guys are dangerous." He then shouted down to the gang, about 16 strong, "Hey Jesus freak retards, go FUCK yourselves!"

"YOU SHALL BE STRUCK DOWN BY GOD UNLESS YOU REPENT," the leader of the gang shouted loudly back to him. "YOU PRACTICE SODOMY, ADULTERY, EXTRAMARITAL SEXUAL RELATIONS, AND UNFAITHFULNESS TO GOD! WE GIVE YOU ALL ONE LAST CHANCE TO REPENT FOR YOUR SINS AND JOIN US AND OUR KING, OR WE SHALL BRING DOWN THE WRATH OF GOD ON YOU ALL! I REPEAT, WE GIVE YOU ALL ONE LAST CHANCE TO REPENT FOR YOUR SINS AND JOIN US AND OUR KING, OR WE SHALL BRING DOWN THE WRATH OF GOD ON YO-!"

The leader was interrupted in his speech when a bullet struck and killed him, shocking his gang. The group on the roof turned to the right of them and found that Homura had calmly fired the fatal shot with a sniper rifle. She then spit down on the ground below and shouted to the gang, "Mark 12:31, dude! You should probably read it the next time you think us faggots are hellbound! These dykes shoot back when you fire on us!" Her words and shot led to the remaining fifteen gang members all beginning to fire at the school roof, forcing them all to take cover under the parapet as Azuma returned fire with his M16 and Mami grabbed a spare Howa Type 89 rifle from nearby under cover.

Azuma turned to Homura and asked her, "Got any ideas?"

"Yeah," Homura replied as she transformed in a split-second flash. "Just watch." Homura then adjusted her shield and turned it to pause time. To Azuma and everyone else, she disappeared for a split second and then returned, standing up and carrying an AT4 recoilless rifle and firing it at the gang. The result was the lead vehicle exploding and killing a majority of them, with the rest retreating in the other two moderately damaged trucks. "And like that, they're gone."

"For now," Mami added, concerned. "We need to keep a sharp eye out for them. Their numbers are growing, and they know we have LGBT students and others here."

Suddenly, a worried and exasperated Sayaka ran up to them from the roof access stairs, carrying with her her own weapon, another hunting rifle. She stopped in front of the gang, catching her breath as she set her gun down. Shino asked her, "Miki-san, are you alright?"

"It's Madoka-chan," Sayaka told them as she continued to catch her breath, causing Homura to turn to her. "She's gone! I think those Mitakihara Heavenly Kingdom guys took her while we were distracted! She was in the lower levels alone on patrol when I last saw her!"

Homura immediately dropped the AT4 and de-transformed, walking away from the group. Another student asked her, "Akemi-san, where are you going?"

"To find those Heavenly Kingdom fuckers and kill them," Homura sternly replied as she walked down the roof access stairs. "I'll do it myself."

...

Several hours later as the sun set on the city, the gang, minus Homura and Madoka, met in an old classroom, awaiting word from Homura of her endeavors via radio. As they sat and waited, the tension continued to build. Kyouko threw her hands up in the air and said to the group, "Damn it, why did she go alone?! The suspense is killing me!"

"You're telling me," Nagisa replied, twirling a pen in her fingers. "She's reckless."

"Love makes you go crazy," Kyousuke noted, adding an explanation for Homura's seemingly irrational behavior. "And you all know how much those two love each other. I can verify that I'd be doing the same if Sayaka-chan got kidnapped."

Then, they all heard a crackle over the radio, but it was not Homura's voice. It was a man's. "Acknowledge me. I have them."

Sayaka grabbed the radio first and replied back to the man. "Who the hell are you?"

"Matsumoto Akio," the man identified himself as. "The Heavenly King of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace of Mitakihara. We have your two female sodomites here. They both put up a hell of a fight, but they're both under my submission now. We want you to surrender your weapons to us and have your sodomite members renounce their life style, or we will kill them in 48 hours time, starting now, from 6 PM."

"That will never happen," Sayaka boldly replied to him. "Now, I will tell you that me and my associates have a very particular set of skills and powers that we have acquired, and those skills and powers make us a nightmare for people like you. You kidnapped the wrong teenage girls when you took my best friend and her girlfriend, so here's how this is going to go down: I will look for you, I will find you..." Sayaka then took a short pause. "And when I do, I will murder all of you. I highly recommend you see the movie Taken if you want a good picture of how you and your cult will die."

"Good luck," Akio menacingly told her back over the radio. "And remember, you have until the sixth."

Azuma stood up from his desk and pledged to Sayaka, "I'll go with you." The rest of the gang also stood and faced Sayaka in agreement. "I must act... No, we must act."

"Right," Sayaka replied with a confident nod. "Everyone, gather as much weaponry as you can. We're saving Madoka and Homura tonight, and killing some zealots."


	15. Rescue

In front of a ruined skyscraper, the gang, minus Madoka, Homura, and Kyousuke (who stayed behind to defend the school), and plus Shino Nakazawa, all readied their weapons. As they stood, eyeing out the building and surveying it, Azuma and Mami quickly grabbed for each other and held hands. Azuma then addressed the group, telling them, "There are God knows how many cultists inside. This is the second major challenge we have faced where we could end up dying very easily. I wish you all the best of luck. Now, let's rescue Kaname Madoka and Akemi Homura." He carried an M4 carbine and a P220 pistol.

"I'm surprised they haven't fired on us from out here," Shino wondered. "Maybe they're trying to invite us in." He carried a PM-9 machine pistol and a M1911 pistol.

"That's probably it," Sayaka noted in agreement. She carried an M16 rifle, but chose not to carry a sidearm, preferring her swords.

"We need to be careful," Mami added. "Last I checked, they have at least 200 members around the city, and I imagine they recalled almost all of them back here because of us." She did not carry a main battle gun due to her powers, but did carry a M1911 as a sidearm.

"We can take 'em," Kyouko confidently said to the group. "We got both military-grade weaponry and magic on our side." She also did not carry a main battle gun, but did carry a P220 pistol.

"Let's give them what for," Nagisa excitedly exclaimed, having never done anything of the sort in her short life. She carried a Remington Model 870 shotgun as well as a P220. In the past, Homura had expressed concerns that she may not have been able to handle the recoil of her guns, but she had managed to prove her wrong. Now that the group was all ready, they walked up to the front entrance, which had been boarded up with wood and metal panels as well as a crude metal gate.

"This is too fucking easy," Kyouko smirked. "Watch this." She then summoned her red spear and took aim at the gate. "Boom!" With a quick red flash, the gate was blasted away with an explosion. As the dust cleared, she spit on the ground and told them, "See, I told you."

"Now they know we're here," Mami grumbled. "Good job, Kyouko."

"Good," she replied as she readied her spear again. "Fuck 'em." She then blasted away at a second gate, revealing two guards behind it when the dust settled, dead from the explosion. "We're so heavily armed we don't need stealth here." The seven of them then calmly walked in, with Azuma and Shino taking up front positions and aiming their main guns at any doorway they found in the ruined front lobby. The walls still bore signs of the flash flooding caused by the storm system Walpurgisnacht generated, with water marks up to where the water level had reached its peak. The entire lobby was trashed, and it was eerily still.

Then, two more guards came rushing down a flight of stairs with pistols, one of them shouting, "INTRUDERS! IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!"

"Fuck you," Azuma simply told them in English as he and Shino made quick work of the two, pelting their bodies with lead before they fell down the stairs and onto the floor. Azuma fires three shots, and Shino fired six. "Girls, cover us from behind. We're going up."

"Got it," Mami replied. Sayaka and Nagisa guarded the rear.

As they group moved up the stairs, a guard then ran up from behind, but Nagisa fired a shell from her shotgun and took care of the threat. The initial shock of killing someone lasted for only a few seconds, but for the young girl, it felt like an eternity. It was as if everything had suddenly stopped, and nothing surrounded her. Then, the words of Sayaka interrupted her. "Hey, Nagisa-chan, keep going."

"Right," Nagisa replied, shaking her head to snap out of it as the two continued their march up the stairs. "Let's keep moving."

As soon as they got to the second floor, gunfire erupted from the opposite end of the office hallway. "Shit," Shino exclaimed. "Everyone! Get back!" The team retreated down the stairs until they were no longer in the range of the guards. Azuma and Shino returned fire by firing above their heads, but hit nothing. "Anyone got any ideas?!" By now, the gunfire was ringing in everyone's ears, the walls of the skyscraper being great for conducting sounds.

"Let me try something," Kyouko replied. She readied her spear again, and took aim above the floor level despite several bullets hitting her spear. "Try this on for size!" Instantly, a burst of fire engulfed the hallway, and they all could hear several screams of pain. "I lit 'em up good."

"Alright," Azuma replied. "We'll empty our first magazines here and proceed." He and Shino then ran up the stairs and fired off the remaining rounds they had into the fire in front of them, ignoring the blinding smoke and striking the remaining guards. "We can't proceed through here, but I did see another stairwell down below! We'll go through there!"

...

On the 25th and final floor of the skyscraper, Madoka and Homura were both tied to chairs in the middle of a ruined conference room adorned with crudely-made religious memorabilia. The leader of the Heavenly Kingdom, Akio, slowly walked around them with a pistol in his right hand. "Your friends seem to be pretty good at fighting."

"They are," Madoka replied to him. "They're going to kill you when this is over."

"I'd like to see them try," he replied as he walked over and then removed duct tape that had been placed over Homura's mouth to prevent her from talking.

Its removal was painful, and Homura exclaimed in pain as it was ripped off. "Agh! What the fuck?! You homophobic piece of shit! When this is over, every single one of you will be dead! You may have captured us, but you just got lucky that time! You won't have such luck this time, you worthless pieces of tra-" Akio then shut her up by whipping her across the face with his gun. "AGH! FUCK YOU!"

"You wouldn't be in this situation if you did," Akio rather creepily told her. "Did I not suggest that if you offered your body to me and let me show you the true carnal knowledge that humanity was meant to know, I'd let your friend go and ignore your continued sinful behavior? Also, did you not almost accept my request before you went back on it?"

Madoka, having not heard this before, was horrified. She turned to her girlfriend and asked her, "Is it true?"

Homura sighed as she admitted, "Yes. It is. He said that if I had sex with him, he'd let us both go. Madoka-chan... The truth is, I did almost accept it. I'm sorry. I only wanted to keep you safe, even if it meant what basically amounts to statutory rape." She then turned angrily to Akio. "Of course you would suggest having quid pro quo sex with a teenaged girl. Cult leaders like you tend to be rather keen on using sex to overpower people."

Madoka, realizing why Homura almost did it, told her, "Homura-chan... It's okay... I... I probably would have done the same thing in your shoes. Hell, I may not have even gone back on it. I'm not going to blame you." She tried reaching for her hand, but her hand was too tied back by ropes for her to reach Homura just inches away. "Eh, it was worth a shot."

"You two sicken me," Akio scoffed. "Absolutely sicken me."

"Look who's fucking talking," Homura replied, earning her yet another pistol-whip. "AGH! DAMN IT, STOP FUCKING DOING THAT!"

...

Half an hour later, the gang had made its way to the 24th floor. The fire on the second floor started by Kyouko was now on the third and fourth floors as well, cutting them and the rest of the cult off from assistance. It would be just them and whoever was left in the building now.

After killing a guard with her cutlass, Sayaka wiped blood off of her face with her free hand. "That's all of them on this floor," she said to the group as she made the cutlass in her hand disappear and grabbed her rifle from behind her back. "We've killed I think about 100 of them so far in this climb."

"I lost count at 104," Kyouko rather nonchalantly said as she inspected her pistol. "That was on the 20th floor."

"These fuckers just don't know when to give up," Azuma uttered. "I wonder how heavily guarded the last floor is."

They quickly got their answer when five guards rushed down a staircase, all aiming their guns at the gang. They all opened fire at the guards, who quickly returned. In the short but chaotic half a minute that the gunfire filled the room, practically everyone was left almost temporarily deaf from the ringing of the shots as billets whizzed past people's heads by mere inches and screams were heard. After that half-minute of intense gunfire ceased, the smoke of the gun barrels cleared. All five guards laid dead on the floor, having been successfully killed. However, the gang was suddenly faced with a new dilemma.

"Oh my God," Sayaka exclaimed as she ran to Shino's side. "He got hit multiple times! Nakazawa-san!"

Nagisa, who also carried the team's medical supplies, immediately took off a backpack she had been wearing the whole time and pulled bandages, gauze, tourniquets, and needles out. Homura has supplied the Rooftop Kids well with medical equipment from city hospitals and the ruined JGSDF base, and they were going to use it to its full extent here. "I'll get started," Nagisa hurriedly said as she wrapped up gauze around two of the bullet holes in Shino's arm and shoulder with pressure bandages.

All the while, Shino was in severe pain. "Holy fuck! Mom! Mama! Help me! Oh my God!" He realized there was a good chance he would die, and began to call out to his mother out of fear. "I'm gonna die! Mama!"

"I have another bullet hole in his stomach," Mami replied as she pulled other medical supplies from the backpack. "Momoe-san, get me a needle and some morphine!"

"On it," Nagisa replied as she rummaged through the backpack and pulled out the required intrusments and the morphine before handing them to Mami. She quickly extracted the necessary dose from the morphine bottle and into the needle and stuck it into a vein in Shino's left arm, quickly pushing the painkiller into his bloodstream. Meanwhile, Nagisa, realizing he was still bleeding from his right arm, applied a tourniquet and tightened it as much as she could, managing to stop the bleeding. "Okay, okay, we stopped the bleeding in his right arm! We stopped the bleeding!"

Suddenly, a round hit Shino in the head from behind the gang, shocking all of them. Azuma quickly turned and fired several shots at a guard who had snuck up on the group from behind and killed him before he could kill anyone else. However, the damage to Shino was done, and he had been killed instantly by the round to his head.

Nagisa immediately ripped the tourniquet and bandages off of his left arm in rage and screamed, "GOD FUCKING DAMN IT, NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! GIVE US A CHANCE, YOU SON OF A BITCH! GIVE US A FUCKING CHANCE! COME ON!" The rest of the gang was shocked, as Nagisa had almost never swore a single profane word before in front of them.

Azuma dreadfully read his watch and proclaimed to the group, "Nakazawa Shino, death by gunshot trauma to the head and massive hemorrhage. Time of death, 16:28."

Mami comforted a weeping Nagisa as Sayaka tried and failed to hold back tears of her own for her former classmate. "Momoe-san, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You did your best."

"It wasn't fucking good enough," she practically screamed into Mami's shoulder as she continued to cry. "It never is fucking good enough, Mami-oneechan!" The excess of blood from Shino that coated much of Nagisa's outfit soaked into Mami's already well-stained one, coating her brown corset and white shirt with a crimson red.

Kyouko was even visibly disturbed by his death, and she was usually the most calm in regard to the subject of the group. "They just... Those bastards..."

"We need to keep moving," Sayaka said through her tears. "Damn it, we need to keep moving. He wouldn't want us staying here and crying over it." She then wiped her face, getting blood smeared all over it from Shino, and readied her rifle. "Let's fucking go."

...

Below them, Madoka and Homura, now alone in the room, could hear the gunfire and shouting. They knew that their classmate was dead, and both were saddened by it. "Nakazawa-san... Nakazawa-san... Why? Why do people I know keep dying?" Tears poured down Madoka's face. She was unable to wipe any of them away due to being tied up, and Homura felt terrible for not being able to comfort her due to being tied up as well. "This is too much..."

"What's all this crying about in here?" Akio then walked backed in with his pistol in his hands. "Are you sad your friend died trying to save you two? Come on, lighten up."

"Some man of God you are," Homura spat in his direction. "How about you go fuck off and join the rest of your cult by dying?!"

"I'm getting really annoyed by your mouth," Akio commented. "If you agreed to my deal, I could have filled it with something that would have made you shut up for a long time, and maybe even see the light as to why your relations with another girl are wrong."

"It's confirmed," Homura again insulted him with. "You're a fucking pedophile. We get it, and no, my heart and my body are for my girlfriend and her only. We've already taken that extra step, False Prophet, and she could satisfy me in bed better than you ever could."

Akio frowned slightly in annoyance. "So, this isn't just some schoolgirl crush... You two are that serious, eh?"

"Yes," Homura replied to him as Madoka stopped crying. "This isn't just two girls having some experimentation and then forgetting about it to go marry a man. The two of us are genuinely in a serious relationship." She then turned to Madoka. "Madoka, my love, are you okay? Did he say anything to you about sleeping with him?"

"He did," Madoka recalled with fear in her voice. "He offered it to me, but not in exchange for release like with you. You're right, this guy is a fucking creep."

"Sir," a guard then ran in to inform Akio. "The gang is on this floor. Get ready."

"Damn it," he muttered as he walked out of the room. "Why won't the rest of them join their friend and just fucking die?!"

Suddenly, from down the hall, the guard that informed Akio was shot dead by a raging Sayaka, who screamed as she dropped her M-16 and charged at another guard with her cutlass, slicing him across the chest and killing him. As he fell, Sayaka took a few deep breaths and relaxed herself as Azuma ran up from behind to catch up with her. "Okay... Cover me."

"On it," he replied as the two walked slowly down the hallway. Azuma walked backwards to cover Sayaka from behind as she picked up her M-16 and crept forward. Once they got to the last room down the hallway, the one where Madoka and Homura were in, Sayaka readied her gun. "Sayaka-chan, you go in first."

"Right," Sayaka replied. "One, two, three!" She then kicked the door open and found that Akio held a gun to a frightened Madoka's head as Homura watched in fear, unable to help her.

Akio, who now was worried since almost all of his guards were dead, had fear in his eyes as he attempted to bargain with Sayaka. "Like I said on the phone, I can negotia-"

The bluenette simply cut him off with a well-aimed bullet to the head, killing him instantly, much to everyone's relief. "Well," Sayaka said to both him and herself. "You were right about one thing over the phone. Negotiations were short." As his body fell to the ground with a loud thud, she looked over him as well as his two hostages.

Azuma then ran in, carrying a knife to untie Madoka and Homura. "Hey guys. You're safe now."

As soon as Madoka was untied, she ran to Sayaka and hugged her, tears flowing down her cheeks out of relief. "Thank God... It was a nightmare!" As Sayaka comforted her, she looked her in the eyes and told her, "We lost Nakazawa-san." She was practically dead on the inside as she said those exact words.

"I know," Madoka replied before she broke down again. "I know!"

As Homura was freed, she looked up to Azuma and asked him, "How are we getting out?"

"That I'm not sure of," he replied as he remembered the fire Kyouko had set below. "Sakura-san kiiiiiinda set a fire on the second floor that's spreading up the building."

"Crap," Sayaka added as she remembered the fire as well. "You're right. We're stu-" She was then interrupted by the sound of a loud whirring above.

"Huh? What's going on?"

As the rest of the gang ran up to them, the whirring sound became louder, and it even began to shake the building from its vibrations. Azuma recognized the noise and called it out. "It's... It's helicopter blades!"

"Helicopter blades?" Madoka was relieved to hear the sound. "Does that mean-?!"

"We're saved," Homura finished her sentence. "The JGSDF must have finally came!" She then turned to the group before her. "Everyone, to the roof!"


	16. My Promise To Her

Two hours after having arrived at a JGSDF encampment on the city outskirts, the gang that had been rescued from the cult's headquarters finally met up again with the rest of the Rooftop Schoolkids, now voluntarily disarmed. Sayaka noticed Kyousuke first from among the crowd of new arrivals into the camp as she reviewed some paperwork, and ran up to him. He was surprised by her, and was practically jumped on by her as she wrapped her arms around him. "Kyousuke! Thank God, you're alright!"

"Sayaka," he exclaimed to her in relief. "You're alright!" As they split, however, Sayaka's mood became somber as she realized she would have to break the news to him. "Sayaka-chan, what's wrong?"

The bluenette then sighed. "We lost Nakazawa-san... I'm so sorry..." She then wrapped herself around him again as tears fell down her cheek, Kyousuke joining in as well and beginning to cry. "The cult killed him... We tried to save him, but..."

...

Meanwhile, in another tent, Nagisa was being interviewed by a JGSDF military policeman and a civilian psychologist due to concerns about her age compared to the rest of the group. She was still somewhat despondent over Shino's death, but was otherwise rather calm. The psychologist, a woman in her mid 40s, asked of her "So, tell me a little about yourself, Momoe-san."

"My name is Momoe Nagisa," she explained to them. "And I shouldn't be alive right now, but I am. I was born on May 1, 2012, and I am 12 years old. I died on May 22, 2024, or so I thought, after I turned into a witch. For some reason, I came back on June 29, 2024, and after me and my group took some files from that crazy little cult we destroyed, we think they may have a part in it."

The military police officer, a man in his 20s, then took over, asking her in a somewhat child-like tone per his own training, "Momoe-san, what is a witch?"

"You don't have to baby me," she told them rather firmly. "My own innocence was lost long ago. Now, what happened was that on May 21, 2024, I made a contract to become a magical girl, with me getting a wish fulfilled in return. The wish was to eat cheesecake with my mother, who was dying of cancer. I ate it with her, and when she died, I died as well. I was devastated, and I could not bear living in a world without her." She then paused for a second, wiping her own eyes of tears as she choked up a bit. "I'm sorry. It's... It's difficult. I may sound like a fucking lunatic, but I have something that will prove I'm right." She then held out her right hand and displayed a ring on it before her soul gem formed in front of them. "This is my soul gem. This contains my spiritual self, my very soul, and if this breaks, I die."

The psychologist recorded notes down as she asked the next question, amazed at what she had done. "Momoe-san, how are you feeling? Your friends say you tried to save your friend Nakazawa Shino, but your efforts were unsuccessful."

"They were actually successful," she corrected her rather harshly. "Then he got a bullet in the fucking head! Any shred of innocence I had left died at that moment, and any chance of it coming back was finished when we found details of a little experiment that cult did the day before Walpurgisnacht came."

...

 _LOG: JUNE 29, 2024_

 _We have conducted two tests today to summon the wrath of God upon Mitakihara. The first test yielded some sparks in the warehouse, but nothing else. We ended up tweaking the amount of gasoline we used and upped the sacrifice from a single pigeon to two pigeons and a stray cat, and in the second test, we produced a full-fledged circle of fire. As we all stared and watched this circle burn a bright white, we heard a voice emerge. It was in German, but we were able to translate it._

 _"You have awakened us, and we shall bring the destruction you desire."_

 _When Ushio-san translated it, we were all elated. We have finally created the perfect setting for the rise of the Heavenly Kingdom!_

 _..._

"I don't think that's some God damn coincidence," Nagisa explained to them. "They were trying to raise a witch from the dead to wreak havoc upon Mitakihara. Their first attempt was what most likely brought me back from the dead. They brought this destruction to this city. What you called Typhoon Koinu was in fact Walpurgisnacht, and you can thank me and the other magical girls here for stopping it before it caused even more destruction."

"I see," the psychologist replied, fascinated with what Nagisa was explaining to the two of them. "Now, I know this is a bit off-topic, but did you always use such profane language?"

"No," Nagisa affirmed in response, shaking her head. "It wasn't until Nakazawa-san died that I really swore intentionally aside from the minor stuff. That... That, though... That is what broke me. All bets were off after that."

...

 ** _July 6, 2024_**

The next day, the gang had held a memorial service for Shino and a few other members of the school who had died during the disaster and the aftermath, their bodies having been turned over to the JGSDF. The Gang of 8 as they were called had been watched closely, being asked many questions and being dragged in for many interviews to give testimony to the government.

Finally, around 7 PM, all 8 of them, plus Madoka's parents and Azuma's parents, the only surviving parents among the gang, gathered in a tent to hear a presentation from a leading general in the JSDF's Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was an older man in his 50s, and as he walked in, he carried a laptop in his arms as he walked up to a podium. "Good evening, everyone. Now, I know things have been crazy over the past week, but bear with us for a second. We have called you all in here today because we need to confirm a few things. We can confirm that the Japanese government now knows of the existence of magical girls and witches, and we can confirm that six of you are indeed magical girls."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Kyouko sarcastically interjected, annoyed at how obvious he was. "Sir, what is going on here exactly?"

"Well," he continued. "We have a proposal that would interest all of you. You see, ever since Walpurgisnacht reared its ugly head in Japan, we have decided that we need a state-sanctioned team that can deal with threats that the regular JSDF simply cannot handle. Ladies, and the four gentlemen in the room as well, we have come up with the Magic Defense Initiative. This will be a group of state-sanctioned magical girls who will be tasked with defending Japan from these threats. Now, I know this seems like a risk, but we do have rules and such in place." He then started up a slideshow on his laptop, projected behind him on a screen. "With the MDI, you will receive formal training, a guarantee of protection, and greater safety opportunities. In exchange, you will be asked to defend Japan domestically, and when you turn 15 and have 6 months under your belt, you can be deployed outside Japan if need be. Also, you will not be allowed to fight other magical girls who are in the MDI since you'll all be on the same team. However, you do have permission to fight non-sanctioned ones. With us, you will be protected from being killed, protected from turning into a witch, and protected under the law. We cannot stop girls from being contracted, but we are going to do our best to keep them safe. We leave the choice up to you."

Immediately, Mami raised her hand. "I'll do it!"

The general, surprised at how fast she was, asked her, "Are you sure? You seemed to be rather fast."

"I'm tired of having to work underground," Mami explained to both him and the rest of the group. "I'm tired of not knowing if I'll die and just be forgotten. This is a brand new idea, but from what you've already said alone, I would gladly prefer being state-sanctioned over continuing to work in the shadows by myself."

After a brief but tense pause within the group, Homura also stood up. "I'm with her. This is a new opportunity for us. We've taken big steps and done experiments before. This is just another one of them." Madoka stood up as well in solidarity, followed by Sayaka and both sets of parents.

"I suppose it's an idea worth checking out," Kyouko, who until then did not entirely like the idea of working in a group, admitted as she stood up alongside Azuma and Kyousuke.

"Well then," the general addressed the group. "Now that we have unanimous approval, the Magic Defense Initiative is a go!"

...

Later that night, Mami and Azuma were cleaning up and putting their clothes back on in a secluded area of the encampment after having had sex for the first time since Walpurgisnacht. As the blonde adjusted her shirt, she leaned over and gave Azuma a kiss on the cheek, making him smile. "It's been far too long since we did that."

"It really has been," he replied to her as he put on a t-shirt. "You know, it did feel different wrapping it up, but not as different as I thought it was going to feel. Speaking of..." He then took a more serious tone. "I need to tell you something."

Mami replied to him as she finished putting her clothes back on, "What is it?"

"It's about Kyousuke-kun and Sayaka-chan," he admitted to her. "It's not about them as a couple, no. They're incredibly cute to look at. It's just... The day Walpurgisnacht came, Kyousuke-kun expressed concerns to me about pregnancy. Sayaka-chan isn't on the pill, and they didn't wear a condom when they first had sex."

Mami sighed in concern. "That is... Concerning... I mean, I can't say I'm angry when you didn't wear one that night or the morning after, but... I at least was taking birth control pills due to my period." She then put a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Azuma-kun, believe me when I say that Sayaka is not ready to have a child."

"I know that," he replied, thinking she was stating the obvious. "It's obvious. We're teenagers. We're not little kids, but we're not adults yet."

"It's not just that," Mami explained to him. "The other reason there was once a taboo about magical girls dating boys was because of the pregnancy risk. You can't properly fight if you're heavily pregnant, and what's to stop the father from walking out on you when the going gets tough? This persisted, even after contraception became more accessible to people our age." She then looked to the sky. "Me and Sakura-san were not the only magical girls in the city when we first made our contracts. There was another. Her name was Kanzaki Shouko, and she was about 16 and had 3 years under her belt. Then, she found a boy, and of course, one thing led to another. They were careless, and when the inevitable happened, she had to come clean to him about who she was."

"How did he react?" Azuma feared the worst.

"Badly," she confirmed. "He walked out on her, and her parents threw her out for getting pregnant. Shouko-senpai probably witched while she was a few months in, and we had to kill her, not knowing she was the witch. Looking back now, I've realized that there was a good reason her familiars looked like babies. We killed every last one, and then the witch. We just thought she was missing." She then looked down and began to cry. "Damn it, we just thought she went missing. We knew about the father of her child walking out on her, and that she was thrown out by her own parents. It just... It hit Sakura-santhe hardest, and that's why she adhered to the taboo the most..."

Azuma noticed this, and embraced her. As she looked up again, he told her, "Mami-chan... I'm so sorry..."

The blonde returned the hug, comforted by his warmth, and told him, "Thank you..."

"I promise you," he told her. "If anything like that happens... If, for some reason, we end up conceiving... I won't walk away. I promise with all of my heart."

Mami smiled through her tears, whispering into his ear, "I love you, more than anything." She then split from him and leaned in for a kiss, the two sharing a rather long one as they continued their embrace. As they split again, Mami had one more favor to ask. "Make me another promise then, too. Would..." She then tensed up, her face reddening. "I... I think... Okay, fine, make me a promise that if we are still together by then, you will take me as your wife when we reach the age where we can."

"Wife?!" Azuma himself blushed at the mere thought of being married to her one day. "Mami-chan, isn't this a bit early to be thinking about it?"

"It has not been too long chronologically," she explained to him. "But... We've been through a lot together, and it's greatly strengthened our bond, far beyond almost any relationship among our peers aside from our own group. If that bond continues, I want to make it permanent when we are able to. I would give anything to do it now, but I know I can't."

"Right," Azuma admitted, realizing he wanted the same thing as well. He then got down on one knee and took her left hand in his hands. "Tomoe Mami, I promise to you that one day, I will formally ask you to marry me when we are older." He then paused before he remarked, "And I'll probably have a ring or something to give you instead of just me kind of awkwardly grabbing your left hand." The two then shared a laugh as he stood up. "How was that?"

"Excellent," she replied to him. "It was perfect."

...

 ** _July 11, 2024_**

After school had wrapped up for the day in a temporary school the JSDF had set up in the encampment, a transformed Sayaka and Kyousuke went on a witch hunt together in the ruins. Due to the MDI, they were given permission to leave the encampment as long as they stayed in radio contact and carried sidearms as well. At a ruined elementary school building, the two were combing through a classroom when Sayaka told Kyousuke, "Hey, uh, I'm gonna go find one of the bathrooms. Lady stuff, you know."

"Alright," Kyousuke replied with a chuckle, knowing what she meant. "Radio me if anything goes wrong."

As she walked out of the room, she found what she was looking for and ran into what was actually a men's restroom. It did not really matter by then, of course, given the place was abandoned. As the bluenette walked in, the aroma was pungent, and she began to have second thoughts about using this particular bathroom. "Ugh, it fucking smells in here..." Then, she opened a stall, and got an answer why. As she stood back and against a wall, she breathed heavily and said to herself, "Holy shit..."

In the stall was a dead body, most likely that of a young boy no older than 10. He had been dead for at least a week, most likely of exposure or starvation. He was already rotting in the summer heat, explaining the smell. Sayaka looked over the body and felt a pang of sadness for him, realizing he probably died alone and afraid.

"I'm so sorry," she said to the body as she closed the door. She then pulled a marker out of her backpack and wrote on the bathroom wall "BODY FOUND, 2024-7-9, MIKI SAYAKA, MDI." If she encountered a body, she was to make note of it for the JSDF to claim and remove later on. Once she was done, she closed her eyes and put her hands together in prayer. She was not religious in any sort of sense, but her parents had been raised as Catholics, and she wished to pray for the boy. "I commend you, to almighty God, and entrust you to your Creator. May you rest in the arms of the Lord who formed you from the dust of the earth. May He forgive all your sins, and set you among those He has chosen. Dear Lord, may you grant this child safe passage into the Kingdom of Heaven, and bless him with eternal life among the righteous, free from any pain and sorrow, and may you bless him with your presence." By the last sentence, some tears were flowing down her face. "Amen." The prayer she had given was a modified version of one she had heard Kyouko give to another body the two of them had found the day before. She then wiped her face and bowed in respect for the body before walking next door to the women's restroom.

As she walked in, the aroma was far more welcoming, at least in the sense that it was not contaminated by death. She quickly walked into a stall and sat down. As she looked around, she found that the bathroom still had some toilet paper, but they were rotted.

"This is why I brought the backpack," she said to herself in a lighthearted mood to cheer herself up as she pulled a roll out of it. As she checked herself and took out the tampon she had, she looked at it and was surprised it was clean. "Huh... Usually I start bleeding today or yesterday. Whatever, it hasn't been five days yet. Less work I gotta do, but this is the fourth one this past two days." She then grabbed another tampon out of her backpack. "I feel kinda bad for wasting these... Eh, it is what it is." Once she was done, she walked out of the stall and back towards the classroom Kyousuke was in.

...

 ** _JOURNAL ENTRY_**

 _I haven't written one of these since the 5th. We've just been so busy these past 6 days. Anyway, the world of Madoka Magica keeps having even more twists and turns than I realized. If you had told me it would lead to this in the old world, I would have laughed. More and more, I learn something new, like that Shouko girl that Mami brought up._

 _Speaking of, it's been a little over 4 months now since I woke up in this world. I thought I'd be dead by now, but I guess God had other plans. I may not be able to escape, but even if I could, I don't think I would take that option. I have too much here. I've found seven amazing friends, one of whom is the love of my life. I could never leave them, especially not now in these trying times. I've entered territory that almost none of canon and very little of fanon has entered: the post-Walpurgisnacht era of Puella Magi Madoka Magica._

 _Kyousuke told me that Sayaka's period didn't come today, even though it usually comes around this time of the month. I swear to God, if she's pregnant... I'll feel somewhat responsible for it, considering I suggested to both of them to start having sex because they may not get the chance to when Walpurgisnacht came. Neither of them are prepared whatsoever to be parents, especially when they've lost both of their's so recently. They both act like it doesn't bother them anymore, but they're terrible at it. That's not even getting into the fact they're 15 and 14 respectively. Health-wise, birth would be a challenge for her. My skin crawls just writing this down. Even so, as much as I would like her not to for her health's sake, she does have the right to keep it if something happens with that. Whatever happens, she will have my full support._

 _I wonder what's in store for us now. That weird Heavenly Kingdom cult is gone, and the JSDF is finally here. What's the next big thing? I would say we can finally relax and enjoy a more peaceful time, but I fucking know that if I do, some random ass villain is gonna rear their ugly head at us and give us yet **another** threat to face. That's how all those shows go. Just when the heroes think their work is done, SURPRISE! New villain!_

 _Who is it gonna be this time?_

 _Anyway, I'm gonna go rest in bed. The request for couples beds was approved for me and Mami, Sayaka and Kyousuke, and Madoka and Homura, so we'll be able to sleep together as couples again. I'm glad, and not just because of the romantic factors involved. It's so peaceful seeing her lay beside me as she closes her eyes and drifts to sleep. I've said it before, but even though I knew she looked good just seeing her as an outsider looking in, I was still stunned to see how beautiful she is as a real person. I could write for ages about her. Her blonde hair is as bright as the sun, and as for her eyes, well, her eyes can make someone fall deeply in love with her and never look back._

 _Even so, it still sent a wave of sadness through me knowing that, at least in this timeline, Kyouko loved her, too. I wonder sometimes what would have happened if I wasn't here, but she still lived beyond Charlo- I mean, Nagisa. KyoSaya is my go-to ship with her, but KyoMami is nice, too. I don't think Mami is gay this time around, but maybe things would be different if I wasn't here. Regardless, Kyouko didn't deserve to get her heart broken. She's such a sweet girl, even if she doesn't seem like it at first. I hope she finds her (presumably, though you never know) Princess Charming one day to settle down with that can fill that void in her heart. Again, this is presuming she is a full-blown lesbian, but she would jump at the chance to be with a girl that treated her right. She at least is glad Mami is the happiest she's perhaps ever been since the accident that left her largely alone, and that Mami is back with her as her best friend._

 _Goodnight._


	17. It's All Too Late

**_July 16, 2024_**

A tired-out Sayaka sat on a bench inside a witch barrier in Kazamino city. She and Kyouko were killing a witch together that had killed several people the day before, and had to be stopped. As Kyouko continued to fight, Sayaka had to take a breather, unusually tired out. As she wiped her forehead of sweat, she remarked to herself, "Ah, fucking hell. I never tire out this soon."

As the witch died, Kyouko jumped over to her, carrying the grief seed of the witch in one hand and her spear in another. "Hey there! You alright, Sayaka-chan?"

"Yeah," she replied, taking the grief seed and holding it up to her soul gem on her bellybutton and then handing it to Kyouko so she could purify herself as well. "Hey, uh, Kyouko-chan, I need to ask you something. Girl-to-girl, you know?"

"What is it?" Kyouko was confused as she made her spear disappear as the witch barrier around them dissipated, revealing a normal cityscape around them. "Boy trouble? Body trouble?"

"Maybe both," Sayaka replied to her. "My period was supposed to come about 6 days or so ago, but it hasn't. It's late, very late." She then held her mouth closed. "Ugh, what the hell?! Oh no..." Her cheeks then puffed up slightly.

"Don't tell me you're gonna puke," Kyouko dejectedly said. Sayaka very quickly nodded as she ran to a garbage can next to the bench and threw her head in, Kyouko holding her cape and hair back with her hands as she vomited into it. As she coughed, she puked again. "Ugh, that's nasty."

Sayaka turned her head to her and replied back, annoyed, "You're just looking at it! Imagine being the one puking!" She then puked again. "Holy fuck... Okay, okay, okay... I think it's all out." She then spit into the can. "Kyouko-chan, I'm scared."

"Scared? Of what? I doubt you're sick with something." Kyouko then helped her up and then back onto the bench. "Look at that, not a single spot on your uniform or your hair. You're welcome, by the way."

"Yeah", she admitted. "Anyway, look, the reason I'm scared is because of my missed period."

Kyouko now realized what she meant. "Ah, I see. I mean, you and violin boy've been wearing condoms when you two go to town, right? By the way, you two are pretty loud when you go at it in your tent back at the encampment. Are you two trying to catch up or something?"

"Shut up," Sayaka amusingly replied to her, giving a grin in response. She then got serious again. "And no. We didn't wear condoms until we were rescued by the JGSDF. We had sex before then more than a few times, including the night before Walpurgisnacht came."

Kyouko then paused, realizing the gravity of the situation. As she wondered what to say next, she sighed. "Sayaka, we're going to the military hospital as soon as we get back, and you better bring your boyfriend along, too. He deserves to hear about this."

...

Three hours later, Sayaka, who was now de-transformed, and Kyousuke sat in an otherwise drab and empty waiting room in the military hospital. As the two held hands, both incredibly worried about the results of a series of tests they ran on Sayaka, the two were largely silent. Then, Kyousuke had to break the silence, wanting to get words off his chest. "Sayaka-chan, I need to talk. I can't keep staying silent."

"I need to as well," she replied to him. "Kyousuke-kun, I'm really scared. I don't know what's going to happen."

"Listen to me," he told her as he looked her dead in her eyes. "Sayaka-chan, I can't abandon you, and I won't. Whatever happens, you are still my soulmate." He then kissed her hands. "And soulmates stick together. Look, I'm scared, too. If you don't think I am, you must be crazy, because I'm absolutely terrified. I even had concerns about this before all this stuff came up. However, I feel a little more comfortable by your side."

"I agree," Sayaka replied, comforted by his words. "I'm not crazy, trust me. Okay, maybe I am a bit crazy, but not like that."

Then, a doctor, a woman in her 50s, entered the room, and turned to the two of them. "Miki Sayaka, come with me."

"I want my partner with me, too," Sayaka requested of him. "He may not be my spouse, but he deserves to know the results."

The doctor paused, considering breaking protocol to let them both in. "I'm not really supposed to let non-married couples come in together, but... Fine, both of you, come in." She then held the door open for both of them as they walked together into her office. "Take a seat, both of you."

As the two lovers sat down, Kyousuke asked the doctor, "Doctor, I just want to let you know before you say the results that we are sorry that we had to bother you with this. We were not exactly thinking straight by not protecting ourselves."

"Listen," the doctor explained to him. "It's fine. That's in the past. Given the circumstances when you two began engaging in sexual activity, I can see why. I can't say it was a good idea, but I can see why." She then sighed as she handed Sayaka a folder of results. "Anyway, you two should be prepared to hear this. Miki-san, open up the folder."

As Sayaka did, she read over the contents on the first page. "Alright... Hmm..." Then, as she flipped to the last page to get the results, she read them for about a second before her eyes widened. "Doctor, this is..."

"Miki Sayaka," the doctor calmly explained to them both. "You are pregnant, and since you've only ever had sex with Kamijou Kyousuke, he is the father of the child. I know this is rather big news. Do you want me to leave you two alone to discuss it?"

Sayaka nodded. "Yes, yes." The doctor nodded and bowed, stepping out of the room. As she closed the door, the bluenette took a deep breath and let out a sarcastic chuckle. "So, this is confirmed. You know, I always dreamed of having children with you, Kyousuke-kun. In my dreams, I had always had a plan. You'd propose to me, we'd try for kids in bed, walk down the aisle, and then I'd bear a child. The thing I looked forward to the most when I became older was becoming a mother. People always said I was a tomboy, and to be honest, I am, but even we have our girly streaks, our wants, and our needs. It's just... I never imagined it would be this early." She then wiped her eyes of tears.

Kyousuke hugged her, patting her on the back. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault, Sayaka-chan. I should have done something."

"No, please," she asked of him. "Don't blame yourself. I said it was fine to not be protected." The two then split. "We're both at fault, Kyousuke-kun, but that doesn't matter now. This is our child now, and we have to make a decision."

"If you want to abort it," Kyousuke informed her. "I will support you. We aren't ready, and I would support that choice."

"Thank you," Sayaka replied to him. "But I have a different idea. Kyousuke-kun, look, I'm in a line of work where I don't know if I'll see the next day or die. It will be difficult, but we have a support network behind us. Kyousuke, I want to keep this child, and I'll do whatever it takes. I wanted you to

"I see," he replied. "Sayaka, can you stand up for a second?" Sayaka complied, standing from her chair as Kyousuke also stood. He then looked around and found a rather thick metal wire on a counter in the room and turned around, shaping it while Sayaka wondered what he was doing.

After about half a minute, the bluenette amusingly asked her boyfriend, "Kyousuke, what are you doing?"

He then turned around and got on one knee. "Miki Sayaka, I love you, and though I've only known about this child for the last several minutes, I love them as their father already. I want to make our relationship formal, and though we can't legally make it so just yet, I want this in spirit until then." He then revealed the metal wire, which he had turned into a ring. "It's not a true ring, but in these circumstances, it's the best I could do for you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and this child. Miki Sayaka, will you marry me?"

Sayaka gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as he popped the question. "Kyousuke... I..." She then swallowed and nodded, tears in her eyes. "Yes, yes, I will!" The two lovers then embraced, laughing and crying at the same time before they kissed.

Then, their kiss was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Hello? Are you two done in there?"

"Oh shit," Kyousuke chuckled and said as the two realized they had kept the doctor waiting for a long time. "Yes, come on in!"

The doctor then walked back in. "Okay, so what have you two decided?"

"Doctor," Sayaka explained to her. "I know that there are a lot of risks due to my age and the conditions we're currently in, and I know that they are physical, mental, and emotional, but me and Kyousuke are keeping the baby. He is not going to run from this, and he is going to stay with me and stay involved."

The doctor nodded. "Now, you do realize the risks, right, Miki-san? You are going to be turning only 14 this year, and your body is obviously not going to take this pregnancy well. Your pelvis is not fully developed, and the odds of a premature birth are significantly higher with younger mothers. It's not an easy task for anyone at any age, but people your age are at a much higher risk than older ones."

"Listen," Sayaka again explained to her. "I know all that. My mother was a nurse. She educated me about sex much earlier than my peers, and of the risks. I know that there is a risk about my pelvis, about premature birth, about the blood pressure and anemia, about the lower birth weight, and so on. She should know a lot, because she was once in my shoes. My mother graduated high school four months pregnant with me. She was 18 when I was born. If you think I don't know the risks, you're wrong, yet my choice remains the same: This is our child, and we are keeping it."

The doctor paused as she took in her words. Then, she cleared her throat and spoke. "I see. I respect your decision then. Miki-san, you are certainly an intelligent young lady. I wish I was this responsible when I was your age. At any time, if you need support, just give me a call." She then banded her business card to the now-expecting bluenette.

"Thank you," Sayaka replied as she bowed, Kyousuke bowing as well. "I will be sure to contact you at some point as the pregnancy develops."

...

Meanwhile, in their own tent, Madoka and Homura had just finished having some fun of their own in bed. As Homura finished putting her pants on again, she remarked to Madoka, "You're getting better and better at this every time."

"Why thank you," Madoka blushed in response. "I've... I've always been secretly dirty-minded, but I never let anyone in on it until I was with you."

"I could tell," Homura remarked as she leaned in and gave Madoka a kiss on the lips. "If you want, we can go again."

"Hmm," Madoka thought to herself. "We haven't tried going for multiple rounds since the night before Walpurgisnacht. You know what, you're still topless, and I'm still undressed. We're halfway there." The two lovers then kissed again, embracing on the bed as their kiss became more and more drawn out.

Then, their kiss was interrupted by Homura's phone ringing. "Oh, for fuck's sake." She then stopped and reached over, grabbing her phone and answering it. "Hello?"

"It's Sayaka," Sayaka replied on the other end. "Homura-chan, I need you and Madoka-chan to come over. I have some news you guys are gonna need to hear. It's serious."

"How serious?" Homura wondered what's Sayaka was talking about. "I'm in the middle of doing stuff."

Madoka cheerfully yelled into the phone, "I'm stuff!"

Sayaka laughed over the phone. "Yeah, and I shot my wife. Okay, okay. You guys can continue. When you're done, come over. I don't want to interrupt you guys."

"It's fine. We can sto-"

"No, please," Sayaka cheerfully insisted. "I insist. You two are a young couple in love. I'll see you in like half an hour then, right?"

"Yeah," Homura grinned. "Half an hour is all we need, sister. I'll see you then." She then hung up and turned her attention back to Madoka. "Okay, where were we, my love?"

...

At Sayaka and Kyousuke's tent, the gang had been told the news, and Madoka had been among the first to lend her support. As she placed her hand on Sayaka's shoulder, she told her, "Sayaka-chan, I promise, all of us are here to support you."

"Thank you," Sayaka replied, turning to her best friend. "You guys have all always had my back, and you all have helped me in my darkest times."

"Right," Azuma added. "Sayaka, we are here to help you. Trust me, raising this baby won't just be an effort of you two. It will be an effort of all of us."

"And if you need an adult," Junko told Sayaka and Kyousuke as she and Tomohisa looked at them. "We're always here."

"So are we," Kanako informed them. "Me and Sakutarou-kun are here."

Kyousuke smiled, many of his worries eased by their support. "Thank you, all of you. This will be difficult, but with all of you by our side, it will be far less difficult than it would be." He then turned to Sayaka and smiled. "Also, we have another announcement." As the two held hands together, he announced, "Everyone, I proposed to Sayaka-chan, and she said yes. As soon as we're legally able to, we are going to get married."

Madoka smiled. "I'm so happy to hear that!" She and Sayaka then laughed together. "Marriage! That's so cool!"

"Everyone," Mami then addressed the whole gang with. "I would like to congratulate the newly-betrothed, and hopefully soon to be Kamijou Kyousuke and Kamijou Sayaka. The two of them have gone through a lot, but may this next stage of this relationship and the rest of their lives be a happy and fulfilling one. I would quote the word of God and say "be fruitful and multiply," but it seems that you two are already ahead of the curve." The whole gang then shared a laugh together. "There will be trials and tribulations, but I'm sure that you two will power through it with the love you share for each other. May your lives with each other be long, and may you both spend eternity together."

...

 ** _July 18, 2024_**

Kyouko reported to the command tent after school around 4 PM. She was to be given an assignment by the general from before, Yukio Shirakawa. As she stood at attention, Yukio spoke up. "Sakura Kyouko, you have been called here because you have a special assignment. Recently, our forces found a young girl, aged 8, who we believe is a magical girl. Her name is Chitose Yuma, and she is believed to have been raised in an abusive household before Walpurgisnacht killed her parents. We are assigning her to your case, since you are already taking care of Momoe Nagisa, who is only 3 years older than her. We believe that she would be best placed in a household where there is already a young girl."

"Understood," Kyouko acknowledged. "What does she look like, sir?"

"This is her picture," Yukio replied to her as he handed her a picture of Yuma. "Sakura-san, she could use your help. She's the youngest magical girl we've found, and we're all extremely worried for her."

"I can see why," Kyouko remarked to her, looking over the picture. "She reminds me of my own sister. She wasn't too much older than this Yuma girl when she was murdered. So, are you gonna tell Nagisa this?"

"We'll bring her in right after you," Yukio explained to her. "The reason we didn't bring you two in together is because you're the primary caretaker of Chitose-san, whereas Momoe-san is merely an adopted sibling of sorts. You are responsible for her training and safety. We are counting on you." He then handed her a large folder of the files they had on Yuma, which she readily accepted.

"I will protect and train her," Kyouko replied with a bow. "It is my duty, sir."

...

 _JOURNAL ENTRY_

 _HOLY FUCK._

 _Sayaka is fucking pregnant. Kyousuke is the fucking father. What the fuck?!_

 _I feel partially responsible for this, since I encouraged them to lose their virginities to each other before Walpurgisnacht came. Now, because of that and other times, Sayaka is going to have a kid at literally the age of 14. This is bad. This is very, very bad. I'm shaking now just writing this down in this book._

 _I remained calm and supportive when they broke the news, but I'm terrified now, not just for them, but for me and Mami. Kyousuke and Sayaka have been wearing condoms ever since we got rescued, though I doubt they'll wear them after tonight since it's kinda redundant. Me and Mami, on the other hand, have never used them. She is on birth control pills, but this pregnancy scares me. It scared her, too, since I saw a thrown out pregnancy test in our tent from her. Thankfully, it was negative. I think she may start to check it periodically because of what happened to Sayaka._

 _I'm worried that something is going to go wrong. If she dies from complications, all my efforts to keep her alive will have gone to waste._

 _Sayaka, Kyousuke, please, be careful. Stay alive. This is going to fuck the both of you up real bad._


	18. They're Not Quite Dead Yet

**_July 22, 2024_**

On patrol in the ruins of the red light district, Mami and Madoka were largely silent, still processing the news about Sayaka. They had wished her well, but both had many worries for her due to the risks. As they rounded a corner to an alleyway, Mami finally broke the ice. "So, Kaname-san, this alleyway reminds me of another experience I once had in the red light district."

"So it does," Madoka replied as she kicked an empty and crushed soda can on the ground. "What was it?"

"I was accosted by a man in his 40s I believe," she relayed to her. "Like many of these perverts, he thought I was much older than I actually was. This time, though, he didn't want me for himself. He tried to convince me to work for him. On a hunch, I lied and told him I was 19 even though I was 13 at the time. I followed him back to his little brothel he had hidden in an abandoned building, and from there, things got interesting."

...

 ** _2 years earlier_**

"So," Mami asked the man she had been accosted by. "Is this the place?" They had walked in to the front of the building, which from the outside was rather dingy, but inside was relatively well-furnished.

"Yeah," the man, who had black hair and was in his 40s, replied. "The rooms are upstairs. Downstairs is where I live and conduct business. Some of the girls stay here 24/7, but most just come in when they're available." His tone gave off a sense that he was partially lying to Mami. "Anyway, I gotta head into my room for a sec. Stay out here." He then walked down the hallway and towards his room.

As he closed the door to the room, Mami began her plan. She transformed silently while nobody was watching and crept up the stairs. As she looked around, she saw about 10 rooms, but it was eerily silent. As she peered into one room that was empty, she saw that the room was mostly empty, minus a bed where the "business" was presumably done in and a dresser. "How empty," she said to herself. She then moved on and walked down the hallway, arming herself with a musket with her ribbons. "Ah, I love this new ability of mine..."

Then, a door behind her slowly crept open, followed by a timid pair of eyes looking out. They belonged to a girl who looked rather young, only a few years older than Mami. "Um... Hello?"

"Huh?" Mami turned around and saw the girl. "Are you a sex worker here?" The shy girl, who had red hair, nodded. "Do you want to be here?" This time, the girl did not answer. "Hey, come on, you can answer me. Do you want to be here?" Finally, the girl shook her head. "Are you 18?" The girl reluctantly nodded. "Are you sure you're 18? I'm not." The girl admitted the truth again, shaking her head. She was despondent in her answer. Mami extended her hand to her and told her, "Come with me."

"Okay," she replied. "You have a gun?"

"Yeah," Mami affirmed as she cocked it. "Now, you may wanna cover your ears." She then aimed the musket at the ceiling and fired a loud shot into it, the gunshot echoing throughout the building. She then loudly announced, "Everyone, if you all wanna leave, go ahead. Get out!"

Immediately, another door opened as a scantily-clad girl ran out. This girl seemed of age, unlike the girl Mami had found. As she ran to Mami, the man who had brought her to the brothel ran up the stairs. "What the fuck is going on?!" He had a pistol in his hands, but Mami did not care.

"I'm busting your brothel for underaged prostitution," Mami explained to him as she summoned several ribbons to tie him up in the hallway. "I'm actually 13 years old, not 19, but you didn't verify that." She then formed another musket in her hands as he began to cut himself from her ribbons with a knife since his hands were free. As he came down, he aimed his gun at her, but Mami fired first, striking him in the chest and killing him. "There, now you're down for the count."

As she ran down the stairs, several of the girls followed her. When she reached the bottom, she was met by two guards armed with knives. Mami quickly kicked one of them, causing him to fall onto the other, before grabbing his knife. As the other man got up and attempted to stab her, Mami dodged it and stabbed him in the neck, causing blood to spill over her outfit. As she dislodged the knife from his neck, the first man got up and charged at her, but she stabbed him as well, getting him right in the chest. One of the girls, standing on the stairs behind her, shouted, "There's still one more guard!"

"Where?" Mami then spun her head towards the end of the first floor hallway, and found the last guard charging at her with a machete. Mami gasped and formed a ribbon musket pistol rapidly, firing it just as he came within stabbing range and striking him, killing him instantly with a bullet to the head. She had recoiled a bit, expecting to be stabbed, but she had just stopped him in the nick of time. "Thank God..." She then turned to the girl on the stairs and gave her a thumbs-up. "Thanks."

...

 ** _Present Day_**

"There were six girls in there," Mami told Madoka as she concluded the story. "All six were freed by my efforts, Kaname-san."

"That sounds so cool," Madoka replied, amazed by the story. Then, she felt her cellphone vibrate, interrupting the conversation rather abruptly. As she looked at it, she saw that the caller was Homura. "Hello, Homura-chan?"

"Madoka," Homura explained to her. "Report back to base camp immediately. There's an emergency. Turns out the Heavenly Kingdom cult wasn't quite dead."

Madoka gasped in fright. "What?! But we killed them!"

"They had followers in Tokyo," Homura explained. "And they're all migrating to Mitakihara to raise Hell. Japan's police and military are taxed enough by relief efforts, so they couldn't stop them all on their journey. They estimate that about 300 of them will approach the city soon."

...

At the same time, back at base camp, Kyouko ran into Sayaka's tent as the base began to get ready for the attack by the cult's remnants. She opened the flaps and yelled, "Hey, Sayaka-chan, let's go! We got an emergency!"

Immediately, Kyousuke stood up first from the floor on the other side of the bed in the tent, adjusting his pants as he said, "Alright. Just give her a sec. We, uh, had some fun." Kyouko blushed intensely as she realized what she had walked into. After about 15 seconds, Sayaka stood up, putting her bra and a blue t-shirt back on quickly before picking up some crumpled-up tissues in her right hand and wiping her mouth with another tissue.

"Hey," Sayaka chuckled to Kyouko, also blushing. "Sorry you had to see the ending of that. You walked in not a moment too soon, since I had to wipe up a bit on my mouth and che-"

"I get it, I get it," Kyouko interrupted her with. "You don't have to go in more detail. Anyway, both of you, grab guns and get ready. The Heavenly Kingdom Cult had more followers, and they're coming to attack us!"

Sayaka threw out the tissues as she grabbed an M-16 in her tent. "What the hell do you mean more followers? I thought they were just a cult in our city."

"They're not," Kyouko explained hurriedly. "They had followers in a few other places, too! There's more to them than we thought! The military and police are too tied down by relief efforts to have been able to stop them all before they reached us!" She then took her bookbag off her back and set it down, reaching in and pulling in a modified magazine from it. "Here, take this. I modified it so it's two M-16 mags taped together."

"Jungle-style?" Sayaka then grabbed the magazines, both of which were fully loaded. "Excellent. Here, take my original mag." She took the single mag out of her gun and handed it to Kyouko, who put it away in her bookbag.

As Kyousuke grabbed another M-16 of his own and loaded it, he asked Kyouko, "How many are they expecting out there?"

"300," she told him. "They say it started as a group of 1,000 in Tokyo, but they were able to arrest or kill about 700 of them before they reached us." She then readied her own gun, a Mineba PM-9 machine pistol, showing it off to the two of them. "I just got this one from a sergeant in the JGSDF. Small, compact, and easy to handle. Not the most accurate gun out there, but SMGs were never meant to be highly accurate anyway."

...

An hour later, the whole gang was lined up behind temporary fortifications consisting of HESCO barriers and concrete T-walls set up along the perimeter of the camp, ready for a firefight. As Azuma and Mami both sat in a small outpost along the wall, alone and in a rather cramped space together in the sweltering summer heat, they wondered when the onslaught would come, and also talked to one another about the events of the day so far. None of the girls were transformed, all of them instead wearing casual clothes combined with body armor, as did Azuma and Kyousuke.

"This heat's killing me," Mami remarked to her boyfriend. "Hang on a sec." She then slipped her vest off before sliding her hands under her shirt to take it off as well. She humorously remarked, "And before you ask, no, I'm not trying to seduce you." As she ripped her shirt and bra off, she let them fall to the ground before she put the armored vest back on again, covering herself. "Hey, hand me a water."

"Yeah," Azuma replied, grabbing her one as he decided she had the right idea about her clothes. "I'm gonna join you, and also no, I'm not trying to seduce you either." As he stripped down from the top and put his vest back on, he told her, "What's the ETA for the cult?"

"They said another 30 minutes," Mami remarked as she looked at a digital clock on the wall of the cramped outpost. "I'm sure that isn't entirely accurate." As she finished the water she had been given, she looked around and had an idea to pass the time. "We're locked in here, right?"

"Yeah," Azuma replied, wondering why she asked such a question. "What's up?"

Mami quickly but softly pushed Azuma to the ground, causing him to laugh in response. "You know exactly what we could do with 30 minutes." She then closed her eyes and kissed him, slowly moving her hands underneath his vest. As she split from him, she told him, "Let's get it all out of our systems before they get here."

"I like your way of thinking," Azuma replied with a smile before returning the kiss back to her and rolling her over so that he was now on top of her. "The heat may be unbearable, but it's not gonna stop me."

Then, just as Azuma was about to reach his right hand towards her crotch, they were interrupted by the screeching of a radio and the voice of a JGSDF soldier. "Outpost Yellow, what's your status?"

The two lovers quickly scrambled up as Mami grabbed the radio and replied back, "Outpost Yellow is ready. How far out are those cultists?"

"About 35 minutes out," the radio replied back. "Based on their current land speed and their distance. You got plenty of time to prepare and grab more supplies if you need to."

"Roger," Mami replied. "We'll be all set." She then turned back to Azuma. "We also have plenty of time to fuck."

"I like your honesty," Azuma told her as he took her vest off and picked her up, holding her against the wall of the outpost. "It really turns me on." The two then kissed again as they began their "session."

...

Meanwhile, Madoka and Homura sat up against the perimeter wall, both of them tired from the heat. Both of them wore helmets, but as Madoka ripped her helmet off, drops of sweat poured from it. "Homura-chan, dear, take your helmet off. It's freaking hot."

"Yeah," Homura replied, who had her hair tied up in a ponytail bun, as she ripped her helmet off. "You're not kidding. If these cultists don't kill us, the heat will." She then changed the subject, wanting to not think about the heat anymore. "Hey, Madoka, I think... Despite all that's happened, of all the timelines I've been in, I think this is the happiest I've ever been." She then reached for Madoka's hand, holding onto it. "And I have a lot to owe to you because of it, Madoka. You're my best friend, and you're the love of my life, and I wouldn't want it any other way."

Madoka smiled. "You really think that about the timelines? Well, I myself wasn't around for those other timelines, but second-hand accounts from you were all I needed to know that's true." The two then shared a laugh, both agreeing with that statement. "Hey, Homura-chan, I want to make a promise to you."

"What is i-?" Homura was then interrupted when Madoka planted a kiss on her lips for several seconds. After they split, a dumbstruck Homura replied, "Madoka-chan..."

"When we get through this," Madoka told to her with conviction. "And when they make it the law of the land in Japan, I want us to be permanent."

"Pe-... Pe-... Permanent?!" Homura's face reddened intensely.

"We're young," Madoka explained to her. "But I still know I love you with all my heart. Homura, when they remove the barriers for people like us, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter how long or short it may be, and I want to do that by becoming your wife." She then stood up, guiding an even redder Homura up as well, before bending down on one knee. "What I'm saying is... Akemi Homura, will you marry me?"

It was at that very moment that Homura-.-exe stopped working. She stuttered as she tried to form a response, seemingly overwhelmed by the question. "I... Uh... Madoka... Me... And Madoka... Married...? Marriage...?" She could already picture Madoka in a wedding dress at that very moment, walking down the aisle, not to mention the "activities" they would be doing right after the wedding. Then, she came back to reality, and gave Madoka her answer. "Yes... Yes! I will!"

Madoka and Homura embraced as they laughed and cheered, more overjoyed than ever, before they shared a kiss. As they locked lips, they both tongued each other, sharing a kiss more passionate than any other before, even when they had made love. It was as if the whole world around them melted away for that brief moment, and it was just the two of them. Though all three of the couples had been very affectionate with one another, they had often been considered the most outward in their affection, and this moment confirmed it.

...

Sure enough, as predicted, the small army of cultists arrived half an hour later. They all had mobilized at the front entrance to the camp, all standing and waiting as a single messenger broke from their ranks to deliver a message to the JGSDF commander of the camp. The commander, an older man in his late 40s, stood with several other soldiers in front of the main gate as the messenger delivered a note on a piece of paper. He bowed and told the commander, "Here are the demands of the Heavenly Kingdom."

"Thank you," the commander replied. As the messengers retreated back to his lines, the commander read the note aloud. "Hmm... Let's see here... 'Surrender the magical female hysteric abominations that murdered our king to us, or we will bury you.' Well, that certainly sets the mood for us." He and the other soldiers then calmly walked back across the gate to the camp. As he did, he radioed, "Command to Violet, they are demanding your head and the heads of the other girls. I assume you don't want to give them those, right?"

"Of course not," she eagerly replied back to him. "Just give us the signal to open up on these guys and we'll take them out."


	19. The Great Mitakihara Turkey Shoot

An hour after the note's delivery, the battle at the encampment finally began. From their machine gun nest, Azuma and Mami saw the cultists ready their own arms and take aim at the camp. Then, the very first gunshots rang out. Mami yelled out as she loaded up the gun in the nest, "Let's get it!" She then cocked it and began firing at the cultists in short bursts. As Azuma readied a second belt of ammunition, several bullets struck the hardened nest, but did not penetrate its walls. "I got a couple of 'em!"

"They just don't know when to give up," Azuma told her as he fed the gun with the belt. "Their movement is dead!" In the distance, he could see a grenade get thrown in their direction, and come flying towards them. "Fuck, a grenade!" On pure instinct, he immediately grabbed Mami and threw her to the ground before falling on top of her to shield her from what seemed to be the impending blast. _"If one of us has to die,"_ he thought to himself. _"I'll be damned if it's her!"_

Then, after a few seconds, they both heard and felt a deafening blast from outside. Mami quickly stood up as Azuma was seen shouting something, but Mami could not hear over it due to her ears still ringing and being deafened from the enemy grenade that had blown up right outside the nest. "Azuma-kun, what?!" As her hearing slowly came back, Azuma repeated himself.

"I said," he asked of her. "Were you hurt, my love?! The grenade fell short of the nest, thank God!"

"I'm fine," Mami replied, grateful that the grenade had not gotten in. "Thank you for shielding me, by the way." She then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's light them up again." As they continued to fight on, Mami reminisced about some of their earlier moments together before they had begun their relationship.

...

 _The Day Sayaka Contracted_

Mami and Azuma had enjoyed a night on the town together, wanting to get their minds off of Charlotte's appearance and Mami's near-death at its hands. As they walked down a pathway in a city park together, they talked and talked about life, school, friends, and other various things. Mami asked of him as they rounded a corner near a fountain, "Tell me, what's up with your English scores? They're super high from what I've heard."

"My parents had both lived in America in the past," he told her, wanting to then conceal the truth. "They passed onto me the English they learned."

"Pfft, lucky," Mami remarked, slightly jealous. "I'm not the best in it. I've considered asking you for help, you know."

"I'll gladly help you study and do homework for English," Azuma assured her. As he did, he imagined in his head how studying alone with Mami would go. By this point, he had begun to genuinely like Mami as more than just a friend or a favorite character. _"I can already picture it,"_ he thought to himself in his daydream. _"Me and Mami sitting in her apartment, alone, reading from a book and speaking to each other. They talk about words for love in those books, and I can just picture me telling her how I feel, and her telling me the same. At least, I hope she feels the same if I do ever tell her..."_

"You okay? You kinda spaced out there..."

Mami's words snapped him out of his daydream, leading to an awkward blush. "Right," he replied. "Sorry about that. By the way, you don't mind me not calling you Tomoe-san or Mami-senpai or Tomoe-senpai, right? I mean, I am a year behind you."

"We're friends," Mami assured him. "Personally, who cares if I'm a year older than you? I don't. I consider myself and you to be equals. No need for the word senpai at all from how I see it. If you want to call me it, go knock yourself out, but I'm not gonna get my panties in a bunch if you don't." She then shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. Speaking of underwear..." The blonde then reached under her uniform shirt from the top and adjusted her bra straps. "There we go... Ugh, I hate it when they get tangled up or something like that."

"Your bra straps?" Azuma sort of blurted out the question, and somewhat regretted doing so.

"Yeah," Mami surprisingly answered him honestly. "Having big boobs can be fun, but it's also a challenge. It's not all sunshine and rainbows for any person anywhere, but you do get some additional pressures when you're a teenage girl with a body like mine." She sighed as she began to recall some 'choice' moments. "Like when people think you're older than you are. Most of the time, it's accidental and they aren't doing anything out of malice, but then you have the creepy old dudes that give you stares because they think you're legal for someone their age."

"Ew," Azuma simply replied, wanting to listen in more. He was saddened to hear about those issues, and also felt somewhat guilty as a fan.

"Or perhaps when you outgrow three bras in one year," Mami then added. She sarcastically noted to him, "Yeah, that was a fun time... Not. I had to spend way too much to cycle through them. I really don't know what it is, to be honest. Before the car accident that killed my parents, I was a bit larger than most other people at the start of their junior high school experience, but not by too much." She stopped and looked to him, wanting to confirm something before she talked any further. "Inubouzaki-san, before I continue, I need you to promise me to never repeat any of this. Miki-san and Kaname-san have heard some of this, but not everything.

Azuma was startled that she was telling him all of this. "I'm a bit surprised. I mean, those two are at least girls. I'm not. I don't have tits, and no, man tits don't count even if I had those. What makes you think I'd understand more than them?"

The blonde laughed in response, amused by his response. As she calmed herself down from her amusement, she answered his question. "Oh, Inubouzaki-san, you don't have to be a girl to have a good listening ear and a sympathetic heart. I know you aren't just my friend because of how I look, and I know that because you saved my life." As the boy blushed and slightly turned his head away, Mami continued her story/rant. "Anyway, I've had to deal with the occasional creep hitting on me. Thankfully, a majority of them backed off when I told them how old I was. They at least had the common decency to stop making those kind of comments about a minor when they learned, well, they were a minor."

"Let me guess," Azuma had to ask, feeling concerned for her. "You day the word 'majority' because not everyone did that?"

"Unfortunately yes," Mami sighed. "There were a very few select people who did. I say people, because one time, it was a woman. They thought I was lying, or they didn't care." She noticed that Azuma had an expression of deep concern on his face. "Don't worry, nothing got physical."

"I hope not," he told her. "Mami-chan, listen to me. You can tell me if someone's getting on your nerves or bothering you, okay?"

Mami smiled, glad to hear his assurances. "Thanks. I'll be sure to remember that."

...

 _Present_

Elsewhere, Nagisa was running along the sand barriers that surrounded the camp as it was attacked. As she neared a small impromptu guard tower, she saw two JGSDF soldiers perched on top of it, firing at the attacking cultists. She carried with her medical supplies, and had assisted a regular medic with a gunshot victim already. As she looked up, she heard an odd metallic clang sound as both of the soldiers on the tower got up and tried to run.

However, to Nagisa's horror, it was too late. The tower exploded, the clanging sound being a grenade that had landed on the tower. As she ducked and faced away, the blast ripped the tower apart and killed one of the men immediately, his head flying off of his body and landing near the young girl, frightening her with a yelp. The other soldier, however, was still alive after having fallen from the tower's ruins, and Nagisa very quickly regained her composure and ran to his aide. "Hey, soldier, I'm here!"

"You're the little girl," the soldier remarked to her as he looked at her. His legs had practically been blown off by the explosion, and he had several other wounds around his body from the shrapnel. "This shit isn't something you want to be seeing at your age, or any age... Damn it..."

"That doesn't matter now," Nagisa replied to him as she pulled out two tourniquets and quickly wrapped them around his leg stumps to stop the excessive bleeding from them, the crimson substance pooling before them. Though the sand barriers were holding up still, neither of them knew how much longer it would be before bullets started breaking through. "What matters is that it's my job to try to save you!" She then tightened both tourniquets as tight as she could, and as she did, the flow of blood slowed, and then stopped almost completely. As the soldier moaned in pain, she told him, "I know it hurts, but it's better than death, trust me!" She then began to pull out an IV, intending to pump the soldier full of pain medication, and then soon after pulled out more bandages.

As she found a vein and began to insert a needle into his arm, two other soldiers ran over. One of them asked Nagisa, "What the hell happened?!"

"The whole tower blew up," Nagisa explained to them when she finished putting the needle into his arm. "I think it was a grenade. This guy's partner's dead. His head's over there." She then pointed to the other soldier's head with her free hand. "Can you guys do me a favor and start bandaging this guy's wounds up? I gotta give him some pain meds."

"Yeah," replied both soldiers as they began to grab bandages and go to work. As they did, Nagisa pulled a bottle of morphine and a bag of saline. After she hooked up the line, she held up the bag of saline and the dose of morphine she had attached to the line to start flowing the powerful painkiller into his bloodstream. By now, her outfit, which was a regular soldier's outfit but sized down, was heavily stained in blood, as were her hands. Some of it had even gotten into her pale white hair. As the three of them continued their work, the battle continued on around them, bullets impacting the wall behind them and gunfire sporadically coming to and from both sides.

...

Mami and Azuma continued to man their machine gun nest. As Azuma loaded another belt into the gun, he also told her as he looked out into the field, "Looks like the hard work is paying off! Their numbers are thinning!"

"Yeah," Mami replied before firing a short burst. "We'll take these guys out in no time!" As she fired another short burst, Azuma joined in by firing off several rounds from a service pistol in the same direction. "Any updates over the radio?"

"Not really," he replied. "They had some injuries and some deaths on our side, but nothing compared to those cultists!" He then grabbed Mami and ducked both of them down as a few bullets suddenly barely zipped past their heads. Since neither of them were wearing their shirts, and only had a pair of BDU pants and armor on, he landed on top of her, his left arm across her bare chest. "Well, that was..."

"Just like when you saved me when Charlotte came," Mami noted, remembering that very moment. "You accidentally groped me when you pulled me away." The two lovers then shared a laugh as they recalled the event. "You were so cute, blushing like a bright red apple as you just moved your arm."

The two stayed down, but Azuma rolled off of her. "Yeah. Believe me, it was not intentional, at all."

"You know," Mami told him as the gunfire outside seemed to get more and more distant, as if the cultists were trying to retreat. "I think... I think it was that very moment that I knew you were special." Their moment was interrupted by a round that entered their nest and shattered upon impact with the back wall. "Shit! Uh, yeah, let's get back to work!"

"Right on," he replied as they both got up and continued fighting. The battle would go on for about another hour after this moment, and would end with a decisive JSDF/local defenders victory. The cult was nearly wiped out, with only 54 remaining alive by the end, all in police custody. Everyone else among their now estimated to have been 500-strong force was killed. By contrast, only 20 soldiers and 10 police officers were killed in the entire battle. The results were in fact so lopsided that the battle was nicknamed "The Great Mitakihara Turkey Shoot," a reference time the Battle of the Philippine Sea, is the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.

...

Madoka, Kyouko, and Homura manned a mortar placement, the only artillery piece at the camp before the attack came. They are supervised by two soldiers, but since Homura had operated a mortar many times, they largely stood back and let her and her girlfriend do their thing. Despite the option of using magic, Homura was reluctant, since she did not want to have to transform and waste any of her magic on the battle. As Madoka loaded another shell into the top of the mortar, she asked Homura, "You gonna stop time at some point?"

"I don't know," Homura replied before both of them ducked and the shell fired out of the mortar into the sky. "If I use it, I just waste my energy and magic. Those are finite resources, after all, and I ran out of sand in my shield's hourglass when Walpurgisnacht came."

"And what does that mean?" Madoka grabbed another shell like clockwork.

"I can't reverse time," Homura explained to her as she aimed the mortar to a different position. "And pausing time takes more energy." They both ducked again as another shell was fired off into the sky. "So I'm kinda stuck."

"Well," Kyouko said, coming into the conversation as she came over with another box of shells. "What if you just refilled your shield with sand?"

Homura and Madoka paused in disbelief at the simple yet seemingly not workable solution. "Refill it? Sakura-san, you realize that the sand came with the sheild, right? I highly doubt it's something you can just refill. Besides, I can't find any openings to refill the hourglass anyway."

"Hey," the redhead replied. "It's worth a shot. I'm sure you could find a way."

Homura sighed, realizing how insistent her suggestion was. "Fine. I'll take it up. If it somehow works, I'll pay you like three thousand yen, okay?" She still had doubts in her mind, and was hoping it would not work, since she would have to pay Kyouko if it did. "And if it fails like I expect it to, you pay me the same amount."

"I like bets," Kyouko remarked to them. "They really can get me amped up. Expect the unexpected, Akemi-san."

"I don't see a reason why it wouldn't work," one of the soldiers overseeing them interjected, adding her own opinion. "Im pretty sure hourglasses don't give a shit what kind of sand is inside them. They just measure time."

"See? He gets it," Kyouko added. "Now, let's keep going at these cultists. Their numbers should be a lot smaller by now, considering how hard we're hittin' 'em."

...

 _Several hours later_

The final battle with the cultists had finally wrapped up. As mentioned before, the battle was a hugely lopsided victory for the JSDF and the MDI, and it ensured that the cultists' story was finally over. As the JSDF and the police kept track of the survivors as they were jailed, Sayaka went to the field hospital for another pregnancy checkup. As the doctor with her in the room went over paperwork, she asked him, "Hey, doc, can I ask you something?"

The military doctor, an older woman in her 50s, turned around and asked her, "Of course, Miki-san. What is it?"

"I want to know something," Sayaka replied to her. "Well, what would you do in my shoes at my age?"

"Hmm," the doctor replied as she thought of an answer of her question. "A pregnancy at your age... I would be scared to no end."

Sayaka chuckled. "Okay yeah, but that's kind of a given. Normal people aren't pregnant at almost 14." She attempted to bring some light into a very stressful and otherwise dark situation. "Normal people also aren't magical girls _and_ pregnant at almost 14."

"You're not entirely wrong," the doctor stated, stating the obvious. "If I was in your shoes... I don't know what I would do. I was worried as Hell when I had my first child at 24. I can't imagine having one ten years earlier. I... I probably would have terminated the pregnancy, knowing what I know now."

"I had seriously considered that," Sayaka replied to her, wrapping her hands around her stomach. "But then... I had this feeling... It's like... It feels like I already love this new person growing inside me, and yet I haven't even met them. I don't even know if they're a boy or a girl. Any other doubts I had were erased because of the father making a commitment to be with me."

"Kamijou-san is a wonderful young man," the doctor noted to her as she put away a folder of medical documents in a cabinet. "He's taking this far better than most boys his age. Most boys would probably bail on their girlfriends if they got pregnant, no offense."

"Oh I know," Sayaka assured her with a nod. "I know most people would try to run away from this. Not just the boys, but the girls, too. Me and him, though? No. We aren't running away." She sighed and took a deep breath. "We made some mistakes, and we could have done some things differently, but we cannot change the past. This child is our's, and it is our responsibility to make sure it has a good life. I know what the risks are for someone as young as me, but by God, I am willing to do whatever it takes to bring this child into the world and meet them." She was adamant in her decision. "I know what my options are, and that is the option I am taking."

The doctor smiled, still concerned about the option she chose, but admiring her determination. "I can only wish I had the maturity and determination you do when I was your age. Some mistakes I made when I was younger could have been avoided."


	20. A New Evil

**_BEFORE YOU READ THIS_**

Normally, I do not put content warnings on my work. However, his chapter of You Can't Escape is different.

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A VIVID DEPICTION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND MURDER. Reader discretion is highly advised.

...

 ** _July 25, 2024_**

"I still can't fucking believe that worked," Homura told Kyouko as they walked together around on patrol around the junior high school early in the morning around 6 AM. As they did, JGSDF personnel worked at rebuilding it in the background. "Who would have guessed that you only needed literally dirt to refill the hourglass in my shield?! Who?!" Homura was still perplexed by the bet that had paid off for Kyouko.

"You owe me three thousand yen, fucker," Kyouko chuckled as she lightly pushed Homura on the shoulder. The two then laughed together, having grown close in the days since Walpurgisnacht had come. "Believe me, Akemi-san, I didn't expect it to work, either."

Then, they both got interrupted when they got a report over the radio. "Patrol 7 to Akemi and Sakura, report to our location for possible witch activity. We're sending you the coordinates right now on Akemi's mobile data pad, over."

As Homura looked up the location on her cellphone, Kyouko replied back to the soldier, "Roger, we'll be heading over." She then turned to Homura and asked her as she prepared to transform. "Where's the witch?"

"Near the train station," Homura replied. "What are we gonna do about Chitose-san?"

"Yuma-chan will be fine," Kyouko assured her. "She's being watched by the soldiers at the school."

...

Yuma Chitose was an 8-year-old girl with green hair and blue eyes. She was of short stature, and was not exactly the first person one thought of when they heard the words "magical girl," and yet she was one. The story was that some unknown girl had convinced her to become one shortly before Walpurgisnacht came soon after her own parents were killed by a witch. Her parents were abusive, given Yuma's harrowing accounts of how they hurt her, and what disturbed JSDF psychiatrists and psychologists the most was that she seemed to not even care that her parents had been killed. She had been placed under Kyouko and Nagisa's tutelage and care, and was to be released to perform limited missions with the MDI in several years before being released for full duty later on.

She had fought a witch before, and had been successful, prior to her being found, but had not engaged in any combat since. It was believed her powers had something to do with healing, but since she had not fought since she was located, it was not known for sure. The girl that had convinced her to make a contract was described as a girl around Kyouko's age with blue-green eyes and ash blonde hair. She had not given Yuma a name, but MDI personnel were looking to find it. At the same time, a series of seven mysterious deaths in the Five Cities area (Mitakihara-Kazamino-Asunaro-Kamihama-Takarazaki) involving teenage girls who were believed to be magical girls was also being investigated. The killings had begun about two months prior to Walpurgisnacht's arrival, and after a period after her arrival of no killings, a seventh body had been found on the 24th of July. The only thing the MDI had going for the case was that a woman with dark grey hair was seen near two of the sites where bodies were found.

Azuma, of course, knew exactly who they were talking about, but feared that he would be accused of being complicit in the killings if he told them without giving them a reason for how he knew.

...

Azuma awoke in his tent around 6:30 AM. He slowly opened his eyes to find Mami in his arms, peacefully sleeping. Neither of them wore tops, having taken them off due to the heat. He smiled as he gently brushed her blonde hair aside to see her face. He thought to himself as he gazed at her, _"It's been hell living in this world, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. She makes it all worth it."_ He then gave her a small peck on her cheek to wake her up, and as she stirred awake, she opened her eyes to see her boyfriend looking right back at her.

"Oh, hey," she groggily told him. "Good morning, love." As she slowly arose from the bed, she stretched her arms and arched her back. "What time is it, darling?"

"About 6:30 in the morning," Azuma replied to her as he also began to get up. "Why is that?"

"We don't have to be up for another hour and a half," Mami reminded him, looking at the clock in their tent. "Remember? We don't have anything assigned for today until 9:30?"

Azuma then remembered what she was talking about. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that. Our classes aren't until then." The JGSDF had started up an impromptu school for the children and teenagers in the camp, and all the MDI personnel attended it between 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM on weekdays. "I guess I was still used to waking up around now for school before Walpurgisnacht came."

Mami sighed as she laid back down in bed and pulled the covers over her half-naked body. "Yeah... I'm gonna miss those days, you know."

"I do, too," Azuma replied, giving Mami a kiss on her cheek and hugging her. "Sure, we get some advantages with the MDI now, but a lot of things were simpler back then. I do wonder, though... Would we have gotten together by now?"

Mami wondered the same thing sometimes, considering to herself that maybe the reason their relationship had moved so fast was because of the near-constant threat of death. "I think we would have, but... Maybe not to this level, yet. Whatever, though. What matters is what's happening now and in the future, and I want that future to include you." She then reached her head over and locked lips with Azuma, the two embracing and sharing a loving kiss for a quarter of a minute. As they split, she smiled and asked him, "We have an hour and a half. We could sleep, or we could have some fun."

"I'm up for the latter," Azuma replied, thinking the same thing. "Hell, if we get it done soon enough, we can still get some sleep before 8."

"You know," she remarked to him as she rolled on top of his body underneath the covers of the bed. "You seem to always be up for sex. Are you obsessed with it?"

"I can say the same for you," he remarked with a chuckle. "You're the one who suggested this, after all. Besides, with a body like your's, how could I not be constantly thinking about making love to you?"

Mami gave him a smile, complimented by his words. "Awww, that's so sweet. I guess you're right about me, too. People always think girls aren't active participants or something, but I can give proof they're wrong." She then kissed Azuma again, the couple locking lips for even longer than before.

...

In a section of Kazamino City that had largely been untouched by the storm Walpurgisnacht had brought with her, a girl with dark grey hair and yellow eyes was talking on the phone with someone as she walked out of an alleyway. As she did, she looked at her other hand and noticed blood on it, quickly wiping it on a wall nearby to get it off. "Yeah, sorry about that. I had some blood on my hand," she told the person she was talking with. "Anyway, we need to stay away from that Magic Defense Initiative thing, I agree, Oriko-chan. If we agree to it, we'll get caught for sure."

"Exactly," the girl she was talking to over the phone replied. "Kirika-chan, we cannot let others know about our status yet. We need to keep laying low and avoid detection by the Self-Defense Forces relief mission. Word on the street from other magical girls says that they already have a young girl in their ranks in the Magic Defense Initiative, and I think it's that girl I convinced to make a contract before Walpurgisnacht came." Her tone of voice became noticeably sad upon mentioning the mega-witch's name. "Our previous mercy killings failed to stop her arrival, Kirika-chan. All we can do is keep going on this path."

"Don't worry," Kirika assured her. "Oriko-chan, my love, trust me. We will continue our path. Besides, taking a life isn't all bad. It gives me a sort of thrill, and I know you get a thrill, too." She was sure that nobody else could hear her talk about their killings. "We need to keep working. I'll see you soon."

"I'm the only person you call "my love," and I enjoy that," Oriko replied. "I shall see you soon as well."

"You know me well," Kirika told her as she smiled. "I take love very seriously, just as I take us seriously. Anyway, goodbye." She then hung up and sighed, thinking about her girlfriend. "We need to do another joint killing. Those are the best." As she walked away, what she left behind was a horrid sight.

Kirika Kure had committed yet another murder, this time of a 17-year-old magical girl with 4 years on the job. This was their six victim, and this was their most brutal yet. Kirika had knocked her out with a blow to the head with a shovel first an hour prior as she walked to a relative's house, and then dragged her body into an abandoned building...

...

 _25 Minutes Prior_

An older high school girl with dark red hair and green eyes woke up inside a derelict apartment as a girl about 15 years old stood over her. As she woke up, she could clearly tell that this other girl was a magical girl, based on her outfit, which was a grey and white dress. The apartment was run down, and the smell was horrid from the hot summer heat. "Huh... Where am I?" As she adjusted her eyes, she could see that she had been stripped down to her underwear, which was badly torn up. "Huh... What?!"

"You woke up," Kirika told her as she noticed she was awake, smiling and taking a puff of a cigar as she did. "We has some fun while you were asleep. I figured that I'd give your body something to remember before I kill you." Her tone of voice was incredibly unsettling, and her victim quickly tried to get up and run. "Oh no, you don't!" Kirika quickly ran up to her and tripped her, causing her to scream in pain as she smacked her face on the hardwood floor of the apartment.

As Kirika violently jerked her head up and began to use her other hand to slowly move down her body from the top of her head, the victim asked of her, "Why... Why me?! What is the point of this?!"

Kirika's other hand had just began to grope her chest when she gleefully told her, "Because you're going to die either way. My, oh my, you must be popular with the boys at your school with breasts like these..." As she continued, the victim began to cry in both pain and sadness. "Don't you know, though? Don't you know that we shouldn't even think of being with them?"

"I...," the victim stammered out in between her tears. "I never believed that... Ever... I'm not a virgin, and I'm glad I'm not... My twin brother is in love with my best friend, and she'a a magical girl, too. We never believed in your stupid taboo, and we made love to our boyfriends! No matter what you do, you can't claim my first time!"

Kirika's smile turned into a scowl as her victim finished her sentence. She was disgusted by what she said, and wanted to make her disgust known. "Oh, really? Is that how you're gonna be? How disappointing..." She retracted her right hand from her victim's body and used it to grab a hammer as her victim tried to break free of her grasp. "Oh no, I don't want you escaping." She then smacked the hammer onto her legs, inflicting indescribable pain on her and causing her to scream, which Kirika muffled with her left hand. Kirika then pushed her victim onto the floor and sat on top of her, noticing that blood was trickling from her nose from her hitting the floor hard. "Oh, did you hurt your nose?" As her victim sniffled and continued to cry, Kirika looked over her face and told her, "My lover and I would have had a lot of fun with you if she was here with me. You really are a very pretty girl." She then took her cigar from an ash tray nearby on a table and slammed the lit end onto her cheek, burning her and causing her to scream loudly in pain as Kirika rubbed the cigar in. Once she was done, she took another puff of the cigar as her victim took several deep breaths.

"My name is Yamaguchi Maki," she stammered out in defiance. "I'm not some objec-"

Kirika shut Maki up with a punch to the side of her face. "You're nothing to me now but another tally in our body count. Now, suffer!" She then wrapped her hands around her neck and began to tighten her grip, causing Maki to gasp for air in vain as she struggled to free herself. For a full minute and a half, Maki's face began to turn purple as Kirka continued her strangling of her. After that minute and a half passed, Mami's resistance began to fade, and after another few seconds, she stopped resisting altogether. Once she had ceased resistance, Kirika drew a knife and stood up. "Looks like I won't need my claws this time." She then grabbed Maki's body from her hair and held it up before holding the knife to her neck. "Goodbye, Yamaguchi Maki, victim number six!" With a quick slicing action, she sliced her neck open, causing blood to spill everywhere in front of her as Kirka threw her body down and grabbed her soul gem, which was on the same table as the ash tray, and placed it on the floor next to her. Then, she stomped on it, smashing it into pieces and finally killing her soul.

Another successful killing by the duo of Oriko Mikuni and Kirika Kure, and the most gruesome one yet. She could have just smashed her soul gem, but Kirika had begun to take pleasure in her act, refining it to deliver as much pain to her victims as she could. Occasionally, Oriko would join her, and the two would kill their target together.

This was a new evil that the Magic Defense Initative would have to face.

...

At a table in a cafeteria at the school in the morning, Azuma, Sayaka, Kyousuke, and Madoka all sat together, drinking coffee and eating breakfast before school started. Homura and Kyouko would have to miss the breakfast get-together that morning before school due to their mission together, and Mami was elsewhere getting food. At least, until she suddenly came back and interrupted the conversation at the table with a comically stern, "Okay, where the _fuck_ is my coffee mug?!"

The four of them, completely taken off guard by the remark, all looked at Mami, slightly frightened. Azuma spoke first, thinking that being her boyfriend/fiancé would help, and told her, "Uh, honey, I don't know where it is..."

"I've checked everywhere," Mami replied to him. "Our tent this morning, this mess hall, the lost and found, and yet nothing! I spent good money on that thing, and I can't lose it." She then looked at Azuma right in his eyes. "Did you do anything to it?"

"Absolutely not," he assured her. "I would never."

Then, a male voice from behind Mami approached and asked her, "I think I may have taken it."

Mami, not knowing who the voice belonged to, angrily replied back with, "And what the hell gives you the right to take my shi-?!" As the person came into her view, she stopped herself and paused, her anger turning into fright as she realized she had talked down to a JGSDF commissioned officer, and a Lieutenant Colonel at that. "Oh... Uh..." Mami quickly bowed as she awkwardly told him, "My apologies, sir! I thank you for returning the mug!"

The Lieutenant Colonel was taken aback by her raw anger at first. "Oh, right. Here you go. I happen to have a similar mug, so I took it by accident and didn't realize it until I saw your name written on the bottom of the cup." As Mami took the mug from him, he assured her, "Listen, it's fine. I'd be pissed off too if that happened to me. You should see me when I go a whole day without it, or a whole week. It's not pretty."

Mami, blushing from embarrassment, saluted him and then thanked him with another bow and, "Thank you, sir." She then sat down at the table as the Lieutenant Colonel walked away. "Well, then, uh... Sorry for yelling at you guys like that." She sighed as she looked over her mug, which had a white exterior with a red and yellow line running horizontally in the middle, as well as a red handle.

Then, the Lieutenant Colonel remembered something he had forgotten and ran back over to their table. "Oh yeah, wait a minute!" As he reached them, he told all five of them, "I forgot to tell you all. After school, go to the briefing room for the MDI. We have something for you guys to see."


	21. On The Hunt

Around 4 PM, the Holy Sextet plus Azuma, Kyousuke, Yuma, and a few new faces met in a drab meeting room. Among the four rows of tables was an unusual sight, however. Among the crowd was a computer screen with a girl's face on it. The girl appeared to be in a hospital bed, hence explaining her personal absence from the meeting. General Shirakawa began the meeting by introducing himself. "Now, for those of you who do not yet know me fully, I am Shirakawa Yukio, Major General of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces. I have served with the military now for 32 years, and I am 50 years old. I voluntarily took it upon myself to lead the Magic Defense Initiative, which would standardize the response to witches and other problems that may arise that can be answered by magical girl such as yourselves. Japan is the first country to acknowledge their existence publically, and the first to organize them in such a manner. We have some familiar faces here, but we also have some new ones. I would like everyone to go around and introduce themselves to the group. You can give out the reason for your wish if you choose to, but you are not required to do so if you are not comfortable. Let's start off with the familiar faces." He then turned to Mami. "Starting from you, going on right, Tomoe-san."

"Right," Mami replied as she stood up. The Holy Sextet were dressed in camo uniforms, as were Azuma, Kyousuke, and Yuma. "My name is Tomoe Mami. I am currently 15 years old, and I am in my last year of junior high school. I have been a magical girl for three years now, and my wish was to save my life after a car accident that killed my parents. I currently live with my boyfriend and his parents in this camp as Mitakihara is rebuilt."

As Mami sat down, it was now Madoka's turn to speak. "Hi, uh, my name is Kaname Madoka. I'll be turning 14 in October of this year, and I am a second year student in junior high. I've been a magical girl for only about a month, I believe, but my power potential is incredibly high, according to some. My wish was to save the life of my girlfriend after she had been killed fighting a witch."

It now turned to Kyouko. "My name is Sakura Kyouko. I'm 15, and I'm also in my last year of middle school. I've been a magical girl about the same time as Mami-chan, and for a while, we worked together." Mami smiled, remembering the good times they had had in the past. "My... My wish was to get more people to listen to my father, who was once a priest." She then sat down, not saying anything else.

"My name is Akemi Homura," Homura began as she stood up. "I am 14 years old, and I have been a magical girl for technically... Hmmm... I'd say about 13 years." Homura visibly saw and heard gasps among the other new faces. "Now, don't panic, I didn't make a contract when I was a baby. No, I have the power to time travel. For 102 times, I traveled back a month and a half to try to save my girlfriend, Madoka-chan. In fact, my wish was to save her, back before she became my girlfriend. Now, I don't have to. I'm living out the happiest days of my life, even with all the troubles around us now. Never in my life have I felt more together and part of something." She then sat down, smiling to herself.

"I am Miki Sayaka," the bluenette told the audience as she stood up. "I've been a magical girl for about two and a half months now. My wish was to heal the hands of my boyfriend. I am going to be 14 in September of this year. It's been a rough month for me, for all of us. I found out about a week ago that I am in fact expecting."

A hand then nervously was raised from the girls behind her, and Sayaka noticed it. "Uh... Wh- What do you mean by expecting, Miki-san?"

Sayaka sighed, realizing she was not going to be able to beat around the bush. "Well, we've all learned about the birds and the bees, I suppose. Maybe a select few of us have experienced it, too. Anyway, I'm not gonna beat around the bush. I'm pregnant." As with Homura, there were audible and visible gasps from the new faces. "I know, I know, I would be shocked, too."

"I...," the girl who had asked the question stammered out, feeling terrible for bringing it up. "I'm so sorry, Miki-san! I had no idea!"

"It's fine," Sayaka assured her with a chuckle. "It's not something I'm proud of, but it's not something I hide. It's just something that is. Anyway, I'm glad to see that there is an effort to organize magical girls and make an effort to prevent fighting over territory."

"My turn," Nagisa replied as she stood up and Sayaka sat down. "I am Momoe Nagisa! I turn 12 tomorrow, and I have been a magical girl for about three months, though I can't recall much of it. The reason I can't is because for much of that time, well... I was a witch." Her tone then became more somber and serious. "My wish was to have cake with my mother one last time before she passed away from cancer, and when I found out I could have just wished the cancer away instead, I became a witch. Now, you may ask, how am I standing here? Well, I came back. I woke up one night in an alley, and I was found by Kyouko-oneechan. What most likely happened was that I was the result of a failed experiment by the Heavenly Kingdom Cult in an attempt to bring Walpurgisnacht here before they were successful." She then wiped her eyes. "I've been incredibly lucky to have the team I'm with now, and I consider each and every single one of them to be my big sisters and big brothers." Kyouko stood up and hugged Nagisa as she smiled, and then the two of them sat down together. "Well, I guess that leaves Azuma-oniichan and Kyousuke-oniichan."

"Indeed," Kyousuke replied as he went first, slightly annoying Azuma as he gave him a "got you" look. "My name is Kamijou Kyousuke, and I am 14 years old. I am a violinist, but until my hands were healed from a car accident, I thought I would never be able to play an instrument again. Me and Sayaka-chan are in a relationship, and I am the father of the child she carries. Trust me, I know, it's scary, having to think about it at such a young age. However, I've contended with scarier things before, like barely hanging onto life after a car accident. Me and Azuma-kun act in support roles. I'm sure he can explain it better, though. He is a mastermind when it comes to this stuff, really. I gotta hand it to him. Without him, none of us would probably be here."

Azuma stood up to begin his turn, inspired by Kyousuke's words. "I am Inubouzaki Azuma. I am also 14 years old. Mami mentioned it earlier, but I am her boyfriend. I've known about magical girls for a long time, and through some digging, hard work, and ingenuity, somehow, I've made it this far. To be honest, I probably should be dead right now, but I guess God likes to play jokes on the living. Through the MDI, myself and Homura-chan will be setting up and organizing response areas and the radio network for the Five Cities Region as we go along and recruit more and more magical girls into the system. It's been an honor to work with such a brave group of young women like you all. You've all had your trials and tribulations, and you all put your lives on the line to protect us from any threats you face. I look forward to working with you all more in the future."

"Alright then," Yukio replied to him as he turned to the new faces in the class. "Now, the new people will take their turns. Let's start with Saikawa-san."

The girl on the computer screen then spoke as Yukio walked over and turned the computer around so everyone could see her. "Hi there, everyone." She waved at them all through the computer. She had a red bandana around her head and green eyes. "I'm Saikawa Aiko. I'm 16 years old. You may be wondering why I'm not here physically. Well, I'm kinda sick. I've been sick for a few years. Even so, I'll do my best, even with my condition. I've had cancer for three years at this point. I've been a magical girl for four years. The reason I'm here is because I caught wind you guys are looking into the murders going on recently, which Shirakawa-sama will be explaining in more detail. My wish was to cure not my cancer, but my mother's cancer."

"My turn," said a second new face. This girl had short brown hair and brown eyes. "My name is Urawa Rei. I'm 16 years old as well. I've been a magical girl for five years. My family owned Urawa Industries, a major defense and technology company, until my parents died in a car accident when I was 11. My wish was to save my dog after he had been attacked by a man. I..." She then paused. "I then used my newfound powers to kill the man who almost killed my dog. But enough of the depressing stuff, I suppose. I've been a friend of Aiko-chan for a while, and I have lived in the Five Cities' Region my whole life. To hear that the government was organizing us to keep our area safe and keep us safe really moved me, and I am glad to be here."

As a few more girls began their introductions, Kyouko looked over Rei and smiled somewhat deviously. _"She looks pretty cute, not gonna lie. That short hair of her's is nice."_

 _"You realize we all can hear you, right?"_ Homura's interruption silently startled Kyouko. She had forgotten the Holy Sextet plus Azuma and Kyousuke were all mentally linked when close by. _"I don't know if the others can hear you, but-"_

 _"I heard all of that,"_ Rei unexpectedly replied. _"It took a bit of work, but I was able to tune onto your little 'frequency' of sorts. Sakura-san, thanks for the compliments. I put quite a bit of work in my hair, thank you very much."_

Kyouko's face immediately reddened up, thinking to herself, _"Oh fuck... Why did I broadcast that to everyone?!"_

...

 _ **July 26, 2024**_

In a ruined apartment, Oriko and Kirika had finished a round of lovemaking together, still on the run from the law and the Magic Defense Initiative. Kirika adjusted her clothes, putting her bra and t-shirt back on as Oriko buttoned up her shirt. The apartment was in a state of disrepair, having been abandoned ever since Walpurgisnacht had come to Mitakihara. In the room they stayed at was some clothes, some food supplies, a few bottles of water, and several guns that they had stolen from other scavengers and gangs in Mitakihara before the government had moved in to restore order.

As Kirika finished putting her clothes back on, she gave her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek. "Fun as always, Oriko-chan."

Oriko smiled, glad to hear the compliment. "As to you. Let me tell you, it's a good thing we found those nailclippers in time, or I'd be hurting down there right now. You do have a way with your hands... And your tongue." The two shared a laugh, enjoying the remark.

In an instant, however, their mood would soon change. They both stopped laughing when they heard knocking on the ground floor of the apartment building they stayed in. "What the fuck?" Kirika walked to the window quietly and looked outside before immediately ducking down. "Shit, it's police!"

"This is the police," an officer stated outside. Parked out front were two police cruisers with four officers. "You guys are not allowed to be in here! We've gotten complaints about squatters here! Come on out!"

Oriko immediately grabbed a hunting rifle from their small pile of guns and loaded it as Kirika readied a stolen JGSDF pistol. As she then grabbed a shotgun and put the pistol in a stolen holder attached to her pants, Oriko told her, "Looks like we're killing cops today." The two of them pulled out their soul gems and transformed in a flash of light, but still held their guns from before.

As they did, the knocking became louder, and the officer shouted, "Open the door now, or we're breaking it down and dragging you guys out in handcuffs! This is your last warning!"

Kirika told Oriko, "Indeed, we are." The two of them then marched downstairs just as the door was kicked in by one of the officers outside when they reached the top of the stairs. As soon as the first two officer stepped into the ruined apartment building, Kirika shouted down, "Oink oink, fuckers!" She then aimed her shotgun down at the surprised officers and fired. Neither of them had their guns drawn, and both were struck by three quick shotgun blasts. As screams rang out, Oriko fired two shots from her bolt-action hunting rifle down at the doorway.

The next two officers that stormed in took aim at Kirika and fired, one of their bullets striking her in the face and knocking her backwards. Oriko shouted out, "Kirika-chan! No!" She then let out a scream of primal rage and fired a third shot from her rifle before quickly grabbing Kirika's pistol and firing rapidly at the two officers before they could advance up the stairs, striking both of them. She then quickly propped up Kirika, who was still alive due to her healing powers as a magical girl but now missing one of her eyes and bleeding profusely from it, and rushed down the stairs, holding her by her shoulder as they escaped into the outside. All four of the officers were dead, and a call had been made for assistance before the last officers were murdered by the duo.

Outside, Oriko helped Kirika into one of the police cars, which was still running, before hopping in the drivers' seat and shifting the gears. As she sped away from the scene, she looked to Kirika, who was still losing blood from her mangled right eye. "Agh... Oriko..." Oriko could see that her face was already beginning to heal from her powers, but no new eye was going to form, rendering her half-blind permanently.

"You're gonna be fine, my love," Oriko told her, trying to calm her down as she turned down a street. "We need to leave the region ASAP!"

"Wait," Kirika told her, interrupting her as she began to cover her own eye socket. "We need... We need to do something before we do that... We need to kill Saikawa-san..."

Oriko immediately recognized who she was referring to, and realized she was right. "Shit, you're right! We need to kill her! Look, I'll figure out a way to sneak into the hospital and poison her. We'll need to be extra careful on the run now. The whole country's gonna be on our asses after this shit we pulled. We gotta abandon this car soon. It's gonna stick out like a sore thumb."

"I'll...," Kirika told her girlfriend. "I'll get something to cover this eye socket of mine... Hey, don't feel so bad, Oriko-chan... Eyepatches are cool, right?" She gave a brief chuckle, trying to lighten the dark and depressing mood that began to set in for the murderous duo. With this shooting, they were now Public Enemy Number 1 and Number 2 in the eyes of Japan.


	22. Origin of Darkness

**_The Day of Walpurgisnacht's Arrival_**

In an abandoned apartment in Mitakihara, just above the floodwaters below along the city streets, Oriko was infuriated with herself, punching several holes into the drywall as a worried Kirika watched on. Each hole was bigger than the last, and each hole indicated a growing anger inside her. "God damn it! We couldn't stop it! We couldn't stop that vision coming true! No matter how many magical girls we killed, we didn't prevent the disaster!" She then crumpled along the wall, her anger slowly being replaced by sorrow. "We failed... Kirika-chan, we fucking failed..."

Kirika walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Oriko-chan, I'm sorry..."

"No, it's not your fault," Oriko assured her as she began to cry. "It's not. It's mine... We couldn't find the girl who was the source of that witch in my vision... We murdered nine girls around the Five Cities Region, and still we don't have shit to show for it!" She slammed her fists onto the wall as she began to sob into it, her tears running down the white wall and onto the floor.

"We got something," Kirika admitted to her, sitting down beside her and facing outward from the wall, her back to it. "It was a rush... I... It feels like I got a rush every time we did it. I mean, it's like we're doing them a favor, because otherwise they would have become a witch anyway, right?"

Oriko wiped her face of her tears and nodded. "I guess you're right." As she collected herself, she began to look up into the ceiling, not saying a word. It was as if she was entranced by something, piquing Kirika's curiosity.

"Babe, what is it?"

"I know what we have to do," Oriko told her as she snapped out of her short trance. "We have to keep killing. We need to take it in stride. Every magical girl we kill is a soul freed from their obligations and the curse of turning into a witch."

Kirika shrugged, unsure of what to think of the idea at first. "I don't know. I'm sure the government will be crawling around here soon, and when they do, they're gonna put their foot down and crack down on any crime."

"They won't know a thing," Oriko replied to her with a counterpoint. "We're magical girls. We can get away with so much because we have powers that can hide evidence." She then hugged her girlfriend from the side. "Come on, Kirika-chan. We only have one shot at life. Let's go out with a God damn bang and make our names remembered."

...

 ** _Present: July 27, 2024_**

Mami, Azuma, and Homura all met in Mami and Azuma's personal tent, all discussing what the plan was for Oriko and Kirika, as well as secretly discussing events that had occurred in previous timelines. Not even the others knew the full extent of their knowledge, based on both Homura's experiences and Azuma's off-world observations. As they laid out a notepad of different things Azuma had written down as well as his iPad, which contained many files from his old world, Homura began talking first, admitting to them, "In some ways, this is my fault."

"Let me guess," Azuma interjected. "You normally would find a way to make Mikuni-san and Kure-san irrelevant in timelines after what happened in Puella Magi Oriko Magica, and this time you didn't?"

"Correct," Homura replied with a nod. "It's so weird to hear my own world referred to by its title name. Anyway, yes, Azuma, I would normally kill them, but in the past few timelines, I didn't. It didn't have any affect the last four times I spared them, so I figured it would be the same now. Instead, the fact that Walpurgisnacht came must have driven them insane, and now more magical girls and even some civilians and police officers are dead." She sighed, feeling incredibly guilty for letting them go free. "In my quest to try to slim down on my responsibilities as my time traveling experiences went on, I might have contributed to multiple people's' deaths."

"Don't focus on what you could have done," Mami immediately replied to her with. "This is now. You can't go back and change what happened without leaving us all to dry, especially your fiancée Kaname-san." She was rather passionate in her words, and used her own personal experiences in her argument. "Believe me, Akemi-san, if I could go back and expand on my wish to save my parents, I would have, but I don't dwell on it for every single moment of my life, because that would probably kill me." The determination in her eyes was clear to Homura. "I got into that mantra in the past, and it negatively affected me in many ways. I don't want you going through the same thing."

Azuma nodded, agreeing with her. "She's right, you know. Akemi-san, let's focus on the future. Besides, we got a mission to take care of."

"The meeting with Saikawa-san is in an hour," Mami told the two of them. "Let's get ready to go."

...

An hour later, Mami, Homura, Azuma, and Sayaka all met with the still bedridden Aiko at the hospital she was staying at. Her room was single-bed, and rather well-furnished. On a desk nearby were several gifts from her classmates and her extended family, including a bouquet of flowers. As the gang all settled in, Mami looked at the flowers and noticed they were from the Kasahara family. "So, Saikawa-san, who are the Kasahara's?"

"They're my boyfriend's family," Aiko replies to her, sitting up in her bed. "After me and Hitoshi began dating and getting more serious, they really took me in as the daughter they never had. We were a couple for two and a half years. Even after he died, they've been taking care of me." She smiled, recalling the good memories she had of him and his family.

"I see," Mami replied, smiling at the flowers. "That's really nice of them. Now, let's go over your history. Akemi-san, you'll do the honors." Azuma placed his phone on the desk and pressed record to record the audio of the session.

"Indeed," Homura replied, sitting on the bed in front of Aiko. "Now, Saikawa-san, when did you become a magical girl?"

"It was 2020," Aiko replied to her, remembering her past. "It was right after I turned 12, because I remember the lockdown from the pandemic back then. My mother was dying of cancer, so I wished to save her. It worked, and she was cancer-free soon afterwards. I was so happy to have saved my mom's life." She then gave a chuckle. "If only I knew that I'd be diagnosed a year later, and my parents would end up dead anyway..."

"That brings me to the next question," Homura continued as Sayaka took notes in a notepad. "What happened to your parents? How is this connected to Mikuni Oriko and Kure Kirika?"

"It was after Walpurgusnacht had come," Aiko told her, her voice becoming sorrowful as she recounted what had happened. "My best friend was my boyfriend's twin sister, Shinobu. She was also a magical girl. God, she was so bright and full of energy. Even knowing that we could turn into witches at any moment didn't deter her or get her all depressed... And then those two psychopaths came."

"Oriko and Kirika?"

"Yep," Aiko replied with an angered tone. "They stalked Shinobu-chan, and they murdered her while she was out with her brother. Her brother tried to fight back, but they killed him before they kidnapped her. They sent me a VHS tape of what they did..." By now, tears were dripping down Aiko's cheeks and onto the sheets of the bed. "The two of them... They violated her... They raped her, and then they stabbed her with those claws Kirika had. I... I thought she was going to witch at any moment from the pain, but she held on until they smashed her soul gem and stabbed her..." She buried her face in her arms as she began to cry, still deeply affected by the loss of her boyfriend and her best friend.

"Have you turned this tape over to the police?"

"Absolutely not," Aiko shook her head. "They... They told me in the video that if I went to the police, I would be next. A few days after I got the tape, they... Oh my God... They murdered my parents while they were out grocery shopping... I've been in the hospital ever since, because my condition keeps getting worse..." As the girl finally broke down and sobbed, Homura patted her on the shoulder, both horrified by her testimony and empathetic to her losses.

"If you still have the tape," Homura instructed her. "You need to give it to us. We're gonna bring these two killers to justice, dead or alive."

Aiko took several deep breaths as she controlled herself. "Okay... Okay... Guys, I need to ask you all a favor, and it's gonna sound odd."

"Anything," Mami assured her. "We'll help you with anything, trust us, Saikawa-san."

"I think they're gonna go after me next," Aiko explained to them. "Since they're on the run now. I... I don't think I'll be alive much longer anyway, so... I need you guys to construct a bomb and plant it under my bed. That way, when they come in here, I can take them both to Hell." She was dead serious in her idea, and clearly had been planning it ever since it had come out that Oriko and Kirika had killed the four police officers. "Please."

The four of them all stared at her in stunned silence. Sayaka told her, still in utter disbelief, "You realize you're asking us to assist you with committing suicide, right? Not to mention that this is literally vigilante justice. Besides, what's to prevent this so-called bomb from injuring innocent people?"

"They make bombs small enough to only affect a single room," Homura replied to her, on the fence about Aiko's idea. "What she's planning is possible."

Mami was equally as stunned as Sayaka. "Saikawa-san..."

Azuma then piped up, coming to her defense. "I can see where she's coming from. There's no way Oriko and Kirika will be taken alive, and even if they somehow are, they'll escape the gallows since they're under 18." He then turned to Aiko. "Saikawa-san, you want them to die on your terms, right?"

"Correct," Aiko replied with a nod. "I want to see their faces when they realize they're going to die. I want them to know even just a fraction of the pain they inflicted upon the four people that mattered the most to me, especially the love of my life. I know you're romantically involved with Tomoe-san. What would you do if she was killed by someone?"

Mami sighed, realizing her point. Azuma replied to her, "I'd find whoever did it and murder them with my bare hands."

"Exactly," Aiko pointed out. "Me and Hitoshi-kun were close to each other, even at a young age. Tell me, aside from Sayaka for obvious pregnancy-related reasons, are any of you virgi-?"

"No," the other three of them replied in unison.

"I see," Aiko replied, amused by the triplet of answers. "Me and Hitoshi weren't, either. We made love many times after we had been together for a year and a half. We were on the younger side, but I didn't care. We learned so much together, and it really strengthened the bond we shared. We were young, but in some ways, I guess you could say we were like husband and wife, and I imagined it as such since I was not sure if I would have enough time to make it legally so."

Mami and Azuma both nervously looked at each other while Homura chuckled at their reactions. "Alright then. I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but Saikawa-san, I'm gonna help you commit a suicide bombing."

"I mean," Aiko replied, trying to bring some light into the conversation. "When you put it _that_ way, it sounds pretty bad, like I'm some kind of terrorist. Let's call it something else... **Revenge**."

"I like your train of thought," Homura agreed with her. "Alright, I can't believe we're doing this, but you got yourself a deal."

...

Kyouko and Madoka had just gotten done killing a pair of witches on the outskirts of Mitakihara. They were young and relatively weak, indicating that they were newer witches that had only recently hatched. As the two of them stood outside of what was once the entrance to a witch's barrier, Kyouko cleaned her spear's blade with a wet cloth, which had gotten dirty. Madoka wondered why she did, considering she could form them at will. "Why do you clean them? Don't the spears clean themselves after you make them go away?"

"Actually, they don't," Kyouko explained to her. "I noticed soon after I became a magical girl that I had about five or so spears. Once I cycled through all of them, I noticed some chip marks on one of the spears, so I began maintaining them myself after battles. My energy isn't infinite, and these spears are pretty big. I assume you can just form an infinite amount of arrows, right?"

"Yeah," Madoka replied, glad she did. "I'd be in a lot of trouble if I had a limit." Then, she felt her cellphone vibrate in the pocket of her outfit. As she opened it up, she answered, "Hello?"

"Madoka," Homura replied on the other side of the phone. "We need some explosives and a detonating mechanism. Don't tell anyone else about this. We're giving Saikawa-san a bomb covertly. She wants to kill Oriko and Kirika herself at the cost of her own life."

Madoka blinked for several seconds, stupefied by Homura's message as she collected her thoughts. "Uh... Excuse me, whaaaaaat?"

"I probably owe you an explanation," Homura admitted, expecting Madoka's reaction.

"Uh, yeah," Madoka replied, obviously agreeing with her. "You do."

...

Rei and Kyouko met up together in front of the Urawa Estate, located just outside of the city. Kyouko, who had lived in poverty her whole life, was astonished to see the size of the estate, which consisted of a rectangular three-floor modernist mansion overlooking a ravine from a hilltop. As she took in the awesome sight of the house from the front gate, Rei smiled and asked her, "Impressive, huh?"

"No shit, it's impressive," Kyouko agreed wholeheartedly. "So this whole place is all to you?"

"Well, me and a few workers," Rei added. "The caretaker of Urawa Industries lives elsewhere. Satoya Okisuke is his name. He was a friend of my father's, and has been running it ever since my parents died." She then flashed an ID card with a barcode to a scanner at the gate, opening it up to a long driveway leading to the house. "Now, follow me."

 _"Damn it,"_ Kyouko remarked as she looked over Rei from behind. _"I can't stop staring at her when she ain't lookin' at me. She's just too hot."_ Her short auburn hair, tied in a ponytail, enticed the redhead, as did her curves. She was fit, but did have an attractive body shape.

Rei then stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. "You just had perverted thoughts about me, didn't you?" She had a questioning look on her face, wanting to know the truth. "Remember, I can read your mind when you think loud thoughts."

Kyouko's face turned bright red at the accusation. "Uh, perverted thoughts?! Eh... I... I didn't..."

"I'll have you know that I am into other women," Rei replied, giving Kyouko a smile now. "I'm not saying that as an invite to drag me to bed and fuck me, Sakura-san. I'm just stating a fact. I can tell when a girl has no experience when I get to hear their loudest thoughts about another person in that context."

"Hey, come on," Kyouko groaned out of annoyance. "I'm still young! I'll find someone some day! What, hav yo-?"

"Yes," Rei interrupted her with. "I've bedded two different girls and a boy in the span of a year. I know how to please people regardless of what's down below their belt."

Now blushing as red as an apple, Kyouko asked her, "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you're thinking the same questions and desires I'm speaking out loud about," Rei answered with. "I figured we could speak it out loud now so we don't get distracted from our meeting inside."

"I had no clue you were basically a female playboy while still a teenager," Kyouko admitted to her. "Gah, you crazy rich people..."

Rei chuckled at her remark about the upper class. "All people have the same desires, Sakura-san. Anyway, enough of this talk. We got work to do inside. If Aiko-chan's really gonna fucking blow herself up, we gotta make sure those two shitheads murdering people in the region are there when the bomb is." Her expression turned from one of joy and amusement to one of sadness. "Damn it, Aiko-chan..."

"I'm sorry for what you're going through," her redheaded compatriot comforted her with, patting her on the shoulder. "She doesn't deserve to be on the verge of death from her cancer like this. You two must have been close for a long time."

"We have been," Rei replied to her. "We attended the same private school, and I visited her many times in the hospital. Even throughout all of the hardship she's been through, she's remained strong when many others would have broken down and given up on their life." She shook her head, wondering why cancer had to strike her. "Damn it, she shouldn't be suffering like this." After a brief pause to collect her emotions, she remarked to Kyouko, "In some ways, I was a bit jealous of her. She had a steady boyfriend who truly loved her, and all I had were flings or people who only wanted to get into my pants because of my family's wealth, not all of whom would be legal, mind you."

"I hate that so much," Kyouko replied in disgust, followed by a rant regarding those creeps Rei had mentioned. "What gives some creepy older person the right to make a pass at us? Let teenagers do that to other teenagers. Adults need to learn not to be such assholes or perverts towards us. They either want to get the cops called on them for statutory rape or they want to bar couples from expressing themselves to each other in that way because of some dumb beliefs in the 'sanctity of virginty' or some crazy shit like that. I don't mind adults who aren't judgemental dicks and want to keep us safe, but the ones who think all sex is evil are fucking morons. Don't even get me started on the creepy-ass ones."

"Exactly," Rei agreed with her fully. "All three of my partners were the same age as me or at most a year and maybe a half apart. I took the necessary precautions, too. What's the harm in that? Why focus so much on what two hormonal teenagers are doing in private and not the creepy 30-year-old man who made comments about my body out loud in my last year of junior high school?!" As they entered the house and walked through the front doors into the expansive and well-detailed foyer, she continued with, "First off, you should be nowhere near minors, you fucking nonce, and second, I don't need you telling me what I already know about how sexy my body is. Bitch, I'm fabulous." Her last remark made both her and Kyouko laugh loudly as they walked through, distracting the latter from the ornate pieces all around her for a moment.

"Nonce?" Kyouko was confused by the term Rei had used, which was an English expression she had used in a Japanese sentence. Once she had calmed down, she asked her what it was. "What's that?"

"A British term for a child molester," Rei explained. "A British English tutor I had mentioned it to me once when I mentioned how that older man tried to make a pass on me. He was disgusted by it, as a normal person would be, of course, and told me what they call them over in his home country."

"Tutors, mansions, money... Holy shit..." Kyouko was starting to get a bit overwhelmed by the descriptions of upper class life Rei had provided her as she also took in the sights around her, such as a living room containing a large TV screen and a flowing waterfall behind it as well as a row of exotic plants in cases in the wall across from the TV screen. "I think I need to sit down, Urawa-san."

"Take a seat in the living room," Rei replied to her as she walked to the kitchen. "I gotta grab something from the kitchen first." Their first meeting would be a game-changer for the redhead, who found herself now thrust directly into a world she had only ever seen in fiction or news reports alongside a wealthy and highly intelligent girl she found incredibly physically attractive who may or may not have taken a similar liking to her.


	23. Action This Day

**_July 30, 2024_**

Early in the morning, Kyouko had stopped by at the Urawa Estate by herself, having decided to move in with Yuma into Rei's house soon after she had offered. As the two ate breakfast together in the bedroom of Rei, watching a television implanted in the wall of the lavish bedroom, Kyouko could not help but look over Rei once more, especially since she was in loose-fitting pajamas and she could occasionally see down her shirt. Rei noticed with her telepathy what kind of thoughts Kyouko was thinking and smiled, telling her, "You know, all you have to do is ask."

Kyouko blushed at the response Rei had given her. "Ask about what?"

"You need to learn how to not broadcast such dirty thoughts about other people so loudly," Rei remarked humorously as she turned the volume down with a remote. "I could hear you thinking about my body again. If you wanna do something with me, just ask and you'll get an answer."

"Do something?!" Kyouko was now red in the face in embarrassment. "Do... Do what?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" Rei then got up off the bed and used the same remote to lock the door to the outside and close the curtains of the large and expansive windows that opened up onto the ravine below the house. "I'm down for whatever you can do with me. Just to let you know, I'm not new to this."

Kyouko then set her breakfast aside on a desk before doing the same with Rei's as she contemplated taking her up on the offer. "You really would?"

"Well, I've been hearing you say pretty loudly in your thoughts that you want to fuck me like an animal." Rei laughed as she finished the sentence, amused by Kyouko's rather blunt thoughts. "How much you like my huge boobs, or my ass, or how my voice could turn on just about anyone who has even the slightest attraction to girls. A bust of 86 centimeters is indeed nothing to sneeze at, I must say."

"I'm the blunt one? You seem way more blunt," Kyouko tried to retort with.

"I'm holding back words on what you thought," Rei smiled and told her. "I'd much rather prefer if you demonstrated those desires on me instead of just thinking about them. I must say, I have desires of my own regarding you." As she walked towards Kyouko slowly, she lifted up her shirt and took it off, leaving only her pants. "That red hair of your's is a turn-on of mine, not to mention those fangs or your nice, slim body. Just let me know what you wanna do, and we can do it. If you want to stop at any point, tell me."

Kyouko then stood up from the bed, ready to give her answer. "I'm not stopping now. Get over here." Rei smiled as she took Kyouko by the hand and then closed her eyes, kissing her as the other hand slowly went down her pants. As they lowered onto the bed, they grew more and more needy of each other's bodies.

"I'm going to show you how to make love to another woman in the morning today," Rei informed her seductively as she used one of her hands to then climb up under the redhead's shirt, increasing Kyouko's arousal. "Now, let's begin."

...

Meanwhile, Nagisa, Azuma, and Mami ate together as a quasi-family of sorts in the common mess hall back at the JGSDF camp. Nagisa was to spend most of the day in a class with the JGSDF medics regarding battlefield trauma, while Mami was to visit the Urawa Estate later and Azuma was to work with Kyousuke in regards to a class on woodworking they were both taking. As Mami read the morning newspaper, she told the other two, "And there goes the government."

Azuma, curious, asked her, "Did the Prime Minister resign?"

"Yep," Mami replied as she set the newspaper down on the table. "The entire cabinet also did due to the mishandling of what's been going on here. The Diet declaring no confidence in them is what did them in finally. Looks like Abe Shinzo ends his long reign as the prime minister on a depressing note, I suppose. They're gonna hold an election on September 1 to choose the new government."

"Too bad we can't vote," Nagisa remarked. "I get it, since we're all too young, but couldn't they make an exception for us in the MDI?"

"I'm not sure if that's necessarily important," Azuma remarked to them. "We may not vote, but we can get our voices out in other ways. I wouldn't mind maybe the voting age going down to 16. A growing number of countries are doing that."

"16? No way," Mami replied in disbelief. "It was as high as 20 here not too long ago, and we had to fight to get it down to 18. I wouldn't mind a voting age of 16, but it's never happening in Japan, sadly. There were even talks among more conservative members of the already conservative LDP to try to get it raised back up to 20, among other things they wanted that would be bad or at least not too good."

"That always surprised me when I came to this reality," Azuma added. "Why was the age of majority 20 here for so long when almost everyone else said it was 18?"

Mami shrugged, unable to give a definitive answer. "Like Hell if I know."

...

"You know," Azuma asked Kyousuke as the two looked over notes from their class work together. Despite being in different grades, the two frequently assisted each other. "Sayaka-chan has been pregnant for a bit longer than you two have started having sex. Did you two do stuff before the night Walpurgisnacht came?"

Kyousuke was perplexed as to why he brought up the matter then and now. "What makes you bring it up now?"

"Well," Azuma replied. "I've been thinking it over since we no longer face literal worldwide death and destruction and can relax a bit, and the dates don't add up when I recall what I learned in my biology classes. There's no shame in admitting you two did stuff before Walpurgisnacht came. Me and Mami-chan did stuff the same night we confessed to each other."

"Right," Kyousuke admitted. "I suppose hiding it won't do anyone good." He then set his pencil down as he explained what happened. "Me and Sayaka... We didn't go all the way, but... A few times, including the night we confessed... We did some things, but it was not all the way..." He began to slightly blush as he explained what had transpired to Azuma. "Okay, look, we touched each other, got each other off with our hands, that kind of stuff. Perhaps what happened was that she... She..."

"She touched herself after she gave you a handjob without cleaning her fingers," Azuma finished his sentence, clear to him that Kyousuke could not bring himself to. "Again, you don't need to censor yourself."

"Yeah," he admitted with a nod. "And we did some grinding, too."

"And here Mami-chan was," Azuma then joked with him. "Standing outside with the rest of us, thinking you two were going all the way because you and Sayaka-chan were taking so long." As he laughed, Kyousuke blushed more, but also gave a brief chuckle. "But anyway, was Walpurgisnacht the first time you two did the whole nine yards?"

"Yeah," he confirmed to him. "It was. Perhaps the desire to do it so badly is what drove us to not seek protection that night, not that it fucking mattered as it turned out." He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You know, if you asked me back in March when the school year started that I'd have my best friend as the love of my life and the mother of my child, or that magical girls are real and said love of my life is one of them, I'd call you a fucking lunatic. You'd be in the hospital, but not because of your hands being fucked up like mine."

"I'd be in the loony house," Azuma replied, agreeing with him. "The funny farm, the mental hospital. Kyousuke-kun, look, I know you're afraid. We all are, but you especially."

"Of course I am," Kyousuke adamantly told him, not even bothering to hide his fear. "I'm fucking terrified, Azuma. A normal person doesn't have a child at our age, but that's not even my biggest concern. My biggest concern is the environment we're having one in, and the chance that child could either get killed before it's born or may have to live without a mother. Even so, despite all the fear... I still want this child."

"It feels like I'm kind of at fault," Azuma confessed to him following a short pause. "I encouraged the others to let their feelings out this way before Walpurgisnacht came, and look where it got you and Sayaka."

"It's not your fault," Kyousuke disagreed. "Don't blame yourself. We were the careless ones, grinding against each other and then having sex without protection. You and Mami-chan are the safe ones. Madoka-chan and Homura-chan of course don't have to worry about that sort of stuff since they're both gay."

"The two of us have never used a condom," Azuma admitted to him. "I didn't tell you that earlier because I didn't want you guys thinking you could, too. Thing is, with Mami, she was already on birth control before we even met due to period cramps. We also knew that we were both virgins going into it, as well as her period cycle. We had precautions, just not the usual ones people take." He chuckled, remarking to his friend, "To be honest, I tried a condom once for a bit out of curiosity with her. We tried doing stuff for about two minutes before she took it off. We haven't tried it since. If either of us weren't virgins before we began our relationship, or if she wasn't taking the pill, we absolutely would be using one every time all the time, as we should be."

Kyousuke looked to the sky, remarking to him, "You're fine. You and her are protecting yourselves from the mistake we made." Wanting to change topics to perhaps a lighter one, he asked him about his old life in the other reality. "So, uh, about your old life, and about our reality... Since you said we're a show where you were from, what was our soundtrack like?"

"You son of a bitch," Azuma remarked. "I didn't even show anyone in the group what the soundtrack for Madoka Magica was. You especially would love it, including some of the music for your girlfriend." As he whipped his phone out, he selected one of several albums he had composed of the soundtrack for the show. "I had to make multiple albums due to the sheer number of songs I downloaded. Anyway, here's a theme associated with Sayaka-chan." As he pressed play, a muffled orchestral theme began, followed after a few bars by the theme suddenly becoming louder, as if someone had opened a door to a room with the song playing inside it.

Kyousuke was impressed. "It sounds like something you'd hear in an action scene or a stage play. Is this like her battle theme?"

Azuma chuckled, amused by his theory. "It's, uh... It does involve a battle, but... This is her theme as a witch."

Kyousuke's smile immediately turned into an expression of concern and fear. "As a witch?! She turned into one at some point?!"

"If I hadn't intervened when I did," Azuma told him. "She would have become one in our reality, too. There are a lot of things that would have gone wrong. Of course, there are things that I could not control that still happened, as well as things that happened because I had changed events." As the song kept playing, he asked him, "I can stop if you're feeling uncomfortable."

"No, no, it's fine," Kyousuke assured his friend as he shook his head. "It's a great song. It's just... It's just that it's weird to know that somewhere, this actually happened. Does everyone in the group have a theme attached to them?"

"Yep," Azuma confirmed to him as he pulled up Credens Justitiam. "This is Mami-chan's theme. She likes to hum it a lot ever since I showed her." As he pressed play, Kyousuke listened intently, blown away by the beauty of the soundtrack. "Not bad for a magical girl anime, huh?"

"This is incredible," Kyousuke agreed. "It's so beautiful."

"It's perfect for her," Azuma remarked to him. "Living in the world this soundtrack was meant for really gives all these songs extra meaning to me, because now I can put living faces to every single song. This song is called Credens Justitiam. It's not in Latin despite how it sounds. It's like some kind of mishmash between Japanese and a few Romance languages."

...

Meanwhile, Mami was working with Homura and Kyouko in the basement of Rei's mansion as they continued their secret work on the bomb Aiko would use to kill Oriko and Kirika at the cost of her own life. The bomb would be incredibly tiny, almost the size of an older iPhone, but it would be powerful enough to destroy much of a single room. Rei had given them supplies and had assisted them earlier, but had to run out to hunt witches and increase her grief seed count. The basement of the Urawa Mansion was expansive and highly advanced, containing numerous machines and computers Rei and her parents had built over the years. One of her proudest achievements was building a liquid-cooled hatch-proof container for storing the grief seeds she collected for use. Recently, the gang had decided to move its own collection to Rei's home for better safekeeping, knowing that their grief seeds would not be able to hatch.

The weather was hot, and even with the air conditioner running, the three of them still sweat profusely as they put the pieces together for their bomb. Kyouko tied her green coat around her waist and wore a black undershirt with jean shorts. Mami wore her old Mitakihara Junior High School uniform's skirt combined with a white t-shirt. Homura also wore the same skirt, but with a grey t-shirt. As Kyouko finished placing a small chip into place, she wiped her forehead of sweat and said to the gang, "Fucking hell, how hot is it again?"

"38 Celsius," Homura informed her, checking a clock on the wall that also showed the temperature. "Or 100.4 Fahrenheit."

"Jesus," Kyouko replied in disbelief. "I can't recall a time it's ever been this damn hot in the city. Can either of you, huh?"

"Nope," Mami shook her head. "As a matter of fact, I think I'm just about done with wearing this... Hang on." She then reached under her shirt and, with a quick motion, undid her bra from underneath and removed it from the top, tossing it to the side. "Ah, there we go. It's officially too hot for me to keep wearing that, even if I actually sort of need it."

"I just didn't wear one," Kyouko replied, showing off her shoulders to prove it. "It's not like my chest is big enough to warrant one all the time. How about you, Homura?"

"I'm wearing one," Homura replied. "But I think Mami's got the right idea. I just never figured out how to do it so easily under the shirt." She then began to lift her shirt up when she noticed Kyouko and Mami staring at her with curiousity. "Uh... Any reason why you two are staring at me like that?"

"Come to think of it," Kyouko wondered. "You're the only one of the group aside from the boys who hasn't been seen getting dressed or undressed by anyone else. Why's that? We won't judge, we're just curious."

"But I've gotten undressed in front of Madoka," she replied, contradicting her.

"That doesn't count," Mami remarked humorously. "You do a lot more than get undressed in front of her. Sure, I get undressed in front of my boyfriend, but that's kinda expected."

"I guess I was just shy," Homura answered their question finally. "Anyway, hang on a sec." As she took her shirt and then bra off, the others looked away, wanting to respect her privacy due to her answer. In a few seconds, Homura put her shirt back on. "Alright, you guys can look now."

"Anyway," Kyouko somewhat awkwardly stated, eager to move on from the topic. "What's the plan for this bomb?"

"We plant it in her room," Homura explained to both of them. "When Mikuni-san and Kure-san inevitably come to kill her somehow, she'll set it off. Until then, it will be a passive device, only turning on when the time comes. We have to be sure that we plant it somewhere where nobody else can see it, and we especially have to be sure that nobody else knows about the bomb. This mission is without the approval of the MDI."

As Kyouko placed the cover of the bomb back on, their work for the day largely done, she felt her cellphone ring in her back pocket. She quickly pulled it out and opened it up, seeing a call from an unknown number. As she answered it, she told them, "Hello, Sakura Kyouko?"

On the other end of the line was a man's voice, and it was one she recognized. "Glad to see you're not dead, unlike your father."

Kyouko immediately turned away from the rest of the group as she scowled, angered by the presence of the voice and its remark about her father. "You again... What the fuck do you want, huh? I'm in the middle of something, and the last thing I need is your ass calling me up like a fucking leech to suck me and my family dry of what little we had."

"Now, now," the man replied to her. "Don't get too worked up, Sakura-san. You know full well that your father owed me money when he decided to be a coward and hang himself, of course not before taking your family out too. Since you're the only living member of your immediate family left, that means all of his debt pass onto you. Look, I don't make the fucking rules here. It's what's natural."

"Natural my ass," Kyouko retorted to him quietly so the others would not hear her. "Look, if you're so insistent, how about you try to pay me a visit one of these times. Come to the Urawa Estate. I'm staying there now."

"The Urawa Estate? How the fuck did a street urchin like you get in there? Is this some kinda setup? You better not be fucking around with me, Sakura-san!"

"Trust me on this one," Kyouko insisted to him. "Okay?"

"If you insist," the man replied. "I'll pay you a visit in a few days." He then hung up.

Kyouko then put her phone back in her pocket and turned around as Mami asked her, "Hey, who was that?"

"No one," Kyouko assured her. "Just some idiot telemarketer. Motherfuckers keep calling me all the time." As they all returned to their work, she thought to herself, _"I can't get them involved in my family's mess. This is purely my business, and my business only. It would be a dick of me to throw them into the fire."_

 _..._

As the trio were at her home, Rei continued her battle against a witch she had found. The witch took the shape of a young girl with deformed facial features wearing pajamas, and its familiars looked to be toy cars who zipped around on wheels. Rei's outfit as a magical girl consisted of a black ballet outfit with a tutu, as well as a necklace holding her soul gem in place, black fingerless gloves, and a small black and white tie on her hair. Her weapon consisted of two light sources on her palms embedded in her gloves that could fire beams of energy.

As she dispatched two familiars with blasts from her hands, she looked up to the witch, which was standing on a platform above her. Angered at the witch's apparent preference to avoid fighting her, she gave it a challenge and yelled at it, "Hey, how about you come down here and fight me instead of staying up there, you fucking coward?! Come on! Fight me like a real woman or man and don't just stand up there and pretend you can avoid me! Are you too much of a pussy to get down from that fucking platform of your's?! Answer me!"

Her words apparently came through to the witch, because she immediately jumped down from her platform and let out a primal scream, ready to attack her. Then, several grotesque arms popped out of her abdomen and reached for Rei, which she quickly destroyed with her energy hand cannons. Rei charged at her and then struck her with a punch to her body, which blew the witch back several feet. The witch responded by charging at her and kicking her, causing her to cough up blood from the intensity of the hit.

"That's it," she yelled at the witch. "I'm gonna destroy you!" She then balled her hands up into fists as her energy hand cannons charged with energy, emitting sparks and a glow from her hands as her eyes turned a bright white. Once she was charged up, she aimed both of her palms at the witch, declaring, "Wave-Motion Cannon!" The attack consisted of pulses of one giant beam of energy aimed at the witch, which obliterated it with a loud explosion. The blast knocked Rei to the ground as she closed her eyes. "Shit!"

When she opened them back up, the witch's barrier had disappeared, and where the witch once stood now laid a grief seed. The barrier had been on the second floor of a ruined apartment building that had been condemned due to damage from Walpurgisnacht and Typhoon Koinu. The interior was water-logged and musty, with a noticeable aroma of sea water still inside. Rei paid no attention to the smell or the surroundings as she picked the grief seed up and de-transformed, returning to her civilian outfit, which was a white tank top, sunglasses, and shorts due to the warm weather.

"Another one to add to the collection," Rei said to herself. "At least this one listened to my advice to stop avoiding the battle. I despise the ones who try to make their familiars do everything." As she tucked the grief seed into her pocket, she noted to herself, "I should be up to fifty-something seeds in storage now that Kyouko and her friends put all their's into my container. I gotta start looking into making a second one if we keep up with this rate." She smiled as she thought of what she and Kyouko had done together earlier in the morning. "Maybe the two of us can have some more fun later tonight."

Then, she felt a presence in the room with her. She immediately stopped talking and controlled her breathing, trying to figure out where the presence was. It was definitely of another magical girl, which concerned her. Had another girl come to steal what she had just won?

As it turns out, she was only half-right. She managed to dodge a bullet from a gun fired in her direction just barely, the projectile singeing her hair just barely on the side of her head. She screamed in fright, "Fucking shit!" As she re-transformed with a flash of light, she readied her energy hand cannons and looked around as a familiar face walked in. "Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me. What do you want?!"

"You know exactly what I want," Kirika then addressed her. "Your friend is gonna die tomorrow, and you are going to die along with her today!" As she readied her claws, Rei readied her energy hand cannons. As she charged at her, ready to slice her into pieces, Rei fired two blasts at her, blasting her back with two loud blasts. In the dust cloud that was kicked up by the attack, Rei ran from the ruined apartment and down the stairs, hoping to avoid Kirika again. As Kirika stood up from the blasts, she dusted herself off and also ran down the stairs, laughing and telling her prey, "You can run, but you can't fucking hide!"

Rei shouted as she turned her head around, unsure if Kirika could hear her but not caring, "FUCK YOU, KIRIKA!" As she ran down the street, Rei thought to herself, _"We got a date for when they plan to kill Aiko-chan. Only problem is... It's tomorrow! Do we have enough time to place the bomb before those two get to her?! What are they planning?!"_

Kirika ran out to the street, finding Rei nowhere as she looked all around. In frustration, she stomped on the ground and yelled out, "Shit! I fucking lost her! God fucking damn it, she got away!" She then threw her hands up in the air as she de-transformed and snuck back into the dark alleyways of the largely abandoned neighborhood of the city they had confronted each other in, a sign of the depopulation of the city that had occurred soon after Typhoon Koinu had hit it. Even now, only half of the city's residents who had survived the tragic disaster, which had killed over 25,000 in the Five Cities' Region out of a population of 2.2 million due to it coming with such little warning, had remained or moved back into the city, with others either being unable to or choosing to resettle elsewhere. "Oriko-chan won't be too happy about this shit..." Kirika then pulled her phone out and dialed Oriko on a burner number.

"Kirika-chan," she immediately answered. "What is it, love?"

"That fucker got away from me before I could kill her," Kirika expressed to her in frustration. "And now Urawa-san knows when we're gonna fuckin' kill Saikawa-san, too!"

"Kirika-chan, calm down." Oriko was worried about how she had lost her temper over the phone over Rei getting away. "Remember, I can see into the future. I foretold Rei finding out about this already. It won't matter, because we'll still be able to kill Aiko. I can already foresee her demise."

Kirika's mood changed from frustration to relief, glad to see that Oriko was able to foretell their plan working. "Well, that's good. We'll find a way to kill Rei, too. Trust me, she ain't fuckin' getting away from us this easily!"

"It's always amusing to hear you swear," Oriko then noted to her in amusement. "Anyway, meet me back at our staging point. I have the tools ready. Delete this number after this call. I'll text you the new number."

...

Later that night, Mami and Azuma had just finished another passionate round of lovemaking in their temporary home when they began to rest together in a state of post-sex clarity. Mami had wanted to do so for the whole day to get her mind off of what was about to happen involving Aiko, to which her boyfriend happily complied. Azuma, who had not had much experience interacting with Rei, asked his girlfriend, "So, how is Urawa-san like?"

"She's an interesting girl," Mami told him as they cuddled in each other's arms. "She's intelligent beyond belief. It's said she built her first computer with her dad when she was only ten, and she proved it by showing that computer to me, Sakura-san, and Akemi-san. As for how she is... Well, she can be super motivated, but also super impulsive. Sakura-san told me she's had more than a few partners in bed, and may have been hitting on her since she knows Sakura-san is attracted to her."

"Her body her choice I suppose," Azuma shrugged. "Especially when you're as rich as her."

"She has a compassionate side," Mami noted to him. "She's letting Sakura-san and Chitose-san stay at her home indefinitely without expecting anything in return. She and her company's caretaker also donated something to the tune of 20 billion yen to relief efforts."

"That's insanely high," Azuma replied to her in absolute shock. "That's like a tenth of her own financial worth I think. That's a lot of money."

"Yeah," Mami agreed. "She's donated a lot to cancer research because of Saikawa-san. She truly cherishes her... She's helping her commit suicide since that's what she wants, but I can tell on the inside that she's torn up about it. We all are." She then closed her eyes. "But it's what she wants, and it'll help get those two fuckers who murder innocent people off the streets. It's hard to accept for Urawa-san, but Saikawa-san truly is on her last legs, even if she wasn't going to blow herself up."

"You're sadly right," Azuma replied to her, also closing his eyes. "Goodnight, my love."

"Goodnight," Mami then told him. "My love." The two young lovers drifted asleep in each other's arms, their minds at peace once they were together, if only for the next 6-8 hours of sleep they would enjoy together. Azuma did not write in his journal today, but would tomorrow once the plan with Aiko had occurred. Hopefully, it would go off without a hitch.


	24. Face-Off

**_July 31, 2024_**

Today would be the day that Oriko and Kirika would be killed by the secret plan the gang had developed with Aiko. Early in the morning, Rei visited her best friend for the last time, and also secretly delivered the bomb she would use to kill Oriko and Kirika when they came to kill her. As Aiko laid down in her bed, watching the TV in her room, Rei told her, "Well, this is it, I suppose."

"Yeah," her now even more weakened friend told her, her voice softer than before when she had met the gang. "The doctors tell me I got about a month before I die. Rei-chan, thank you. I don't want to die in agony as I wither away from this horrid disease."

Tears welled up in Rei's eyes as she took the bomb, a tiny device the size of an older iPhone, out of her pocket book. "Aiko-chan, it's gonna be... It's so hard to see you like this. I know this is what you want, but... A part of me tells me no..." She then collapsed her head onto Aiko's hospital bed and buried her face into the covers as she let her emotions out, crying and staining them with her tears. "You... You backed me up when I came out of the closet... You supported me right from elementary school up to now... Even when my parents died, you were by my side, comforting me when I was only 11... Why, why, Aiko-chan, why?"

"I'll be right behind you," Aiko told her, smiling and at peace with both herself and death. "Even when I die, I won't truly leave. Rei, it's been a wonderful 16 years of life for me. It's short, but I've made peace with it. I'll get to see my parents, and the love of my life. Maybe in the next life, he and I won't be cursed with what happened to me now." As Rei continued to sob, she reached over and stroked her hair. "There, there, my friend, don't cry because I'll be leaving this mortal plane. We will meet again one day, hopefully a long time from now. I want you to meet someone you'll be happy with, and spend a long life with them."

"I can't help it," Rei told her through her tears. "I can't help but cry and be sad. I'm trying to be strong, but I'm losing my fucking best friend! You're practically my sister!" She then continued to sob into her bed. "Aiko-chan, you will always be my closest friend. Nobody else will ever compare to you!"

...

As Nagisa and Yuma did homework together in an otherwise empty meeting room, the older girl helping the younger girl with a spelling assignment, she told Oriko, "Alright, we got that section done. Good job, Oriko-chan."

"Awww, thank you, Nagisa-oneechan," Yuma replied roll her, making the other girl stand back a bit in surprise. She herself was younger than the rest of the group, but older than Yuma. It felt odd to be called such a term, but within, she had a nice warm feeling from being regarded as a sort of older sister to the incredibly young magical girl. "Hey, oneechan, why are you so flustered?"

"Fl-... Flustered? I'm fine!" Nagisa then chuckled as she tried to deny being surprised by her words. "Yuma-chan, I'm not flustered at all..."

Then, a soldier walked into the room, addressing Nagisa. "Hey, Momoe-san, we need you for a second." His tone was not tense or full of concern, but the request regardless worried Nagisa.

"I'll be right over," Nagisa then replied, standing up from the table. "Yuma-chan, sorry." Inside her head, she expected the worst. She thought to herself as she walked to the soldier, _"I get this feeling of doing wrong whenever something like this happens... I always expect bad news or getting yelled at for something."_ "What's going on, sir?"

"Nothing bad," the soldier assured her. "This is about training stuff anyway."

...

Mami and Azuma slept in that morning, having the day off from their duties. Around 9:30 A.M., Mami awoke first, shifting in bed as she opened her eyes to find her love peacefully sleeping beside her. Neither wore anything to bed due to the heat and due to 'other activities' the night before. Their arms were wrapped around each other, and Mami smiled as she moved one of her arms out from over Azuma and poked his nose. "Hey, sleepyhead."

Azuma's face stirred in response. Mami repeated her poking two more times before his eyes finally opened. "Huh..."

"Good morning," Mami told him as she brushed her undone hair off of her face. "How did you sleep?"

"Good," Azuma replied as he rolled onto his back from his side. "I'm glad to have a day off. Every day for a whole week has been either school or work with the MDI."

As Mami stretched her arms out and above her, she looked to the sun through the window of their more permanent private quarters. "I wonder if we have enough time for another round?"

"I see what you're thinking," Azuma replied, a mild blush appearing on his face as he smiled. "A little loving in the morning sounds like a good plan."

...

Around 11 AM, at the hospital that Aiko was staying at, Oriko and Kirika walked up to the front entrance, disguised with sunglasses and clothes they had stolen from a store the day before. Their hairstyles were also different than their usual ones, with Oriko possessing long pigtails and Kirika having cut her already short hair even shorter, giving off the appearance of a boy, which was helped by binding her chest to be flat. As the two entered the hospital, Kirika made sure to conceal their weapon, a syringe containing arsenic.

Oriko thought to herself as she looked around the lobby, _"Alright, we just need to say we're here to visit this bitch, and when she denies us, we'll walk out and take out those two security guards outside. From there, we sneak in and make our move."_ Oriko then walked up to the lobby desk and asked the nurse at the front who acted as the receptionist, "Hello, ma'am. Is Saikawa Aiko available for visitors today?"

"She is," the nurse replied to her. "Let me just call up to her and see if she's good. What's your name?"

"I am Nosaka Miho," Oriko replied, giving a false name. "This is my son, Shunsuke." Kirika played the part of a teenage boy, while Oriko pretended to be much older than she actually wash, talking in a lower register than usual.

"Alright," the nurse replied. "She is available." She then handed a card to Oriko. "The room number is on that card. She will be expecting you two."

Kirika and Oriko were shocked. The former thought to herself, _"Is she really that stupid?! This is too easy! What does she have planned?"_

"Thank you," Oriko replied before the two of them walked to an elevator. As they did, she whispered to Kirika, "Holy shit, that was too fucking easy."

"No kidding," she replied with another quiet whisper as they selected the third floor and the elevator doors closed. "She's gotta have a plan or something. She ain't this retarded to just let two random people visit her when she knows we want to kill her." Changing subject, she asked her girlfriend, "So, any plans after this?"

"I was thinking sex back at the safe house," Oriko replied to her. "We haven't fucked in a bit due to what's been going on. I could use a nice romp when we're done."

Kirika smiled and chuckled. "You and me both."

...

Back at the camp, Nagisa reviewed medical equipment as she and an instructor performed an evaluation with an IV setup. As she slowly inserted the needle into another soldier's arm, she asked him, "Are you alright?"

"Wish I was this good at your age," the soldier replied. "I was some dumb kid back then."

As Nagisa disposed of the needle and kept the catheter in, she told the instructor, "Alright, the needle has been properly disposed of, and the catheter has been kept in. I will now remove the tourniquet and secure the catheter in place." As she did so with relative ease, she maintained a sharp focus on her work.

The instructor asked her, "Where did you learn all this again?"

"One of the school nurses at Mitakihara Junior High School," Nagisa explained. "She taught me and a few others some basic medical skills, but she taught me specifically the more advanced stuff with what little we had in terms of supplies. I didn't do too much with it in the field, but I assisted her and a doctor from the hospital who was stuck with us during the period of anarchy in the city a few times with some severe trauma patients, mostly stabbing and gunshot victims from the gang wars. The doctor said he had only treated three gunshot wounds in the span of 13 years as a doctor before this, but after the typhoon, he treated ten." While she had talked to the instructor, she had continued her evolution, and was now flowing a small bag of saline for the end of the evolution. "And just like that, it's done."

"Excellent work," the instructor told her. "Marvelous for a girl of your age."

...

About five minutes after they had entered the elevator at the hospital, Oriko and Kirika stepped into Aiko's room. She was sitting up on her bed, smiling and awaiting their presence as they closed and locked the door behind them. "You're probably surprised I let you two shitheads up here."

"We are," Oriko replied to her as she took a seat next to her in a chair. "Why? Do you have something planned?"

"I plan to die today," Aiko explained to both of them with conviction in her voice. "I only have another month to live anyway according to the doctors. I'd rather go out with a bang than die a slow and painful death."

"You'd be sorely fucking mistaken if you think your death will be quick and painless," Kirika replied as she pulled the syringe with arsenic out of her coat. "We're gonna inject you with arsenic, right into your soul gem. We didn't know we could do this until I gave one of our victims a dose of heroin large enough to make her soul gem shatter. The pain she was in... Oh, it was an amazing sight to see. By the end, she was begging for death." She could not help but blush at the thought, becoming slightly excited by the idea of inflicting pain onto her victims. "I've been looking forward to this day for a really long time, Saikawa-san."

Aiko looked at her with an expression of humorous confusion. "Oh, you think you're going to kill me?"

"I mean," Oriko asked of her, confused. "How would you kill us? You're confined to that hospital bed, and you're weaker than a toddler."

As Aiko laughed in her bed in response, Kirika, annoyed by her enthusiasm, asked her with an aggressive tone, "You think we're funny? You think we're fucking funny? You think we're two fucking clowns, huh, you little bitch? What's so fucking funny, asshole?"

"I told you," Aiko replied as she looked over at her and then back to Kirika. "I intend on going out with a bang. I never said I was the only person that was going to die here today, did I?" She then used what little strength she had left to point downwards at her bed while using her other hand to press a button on her bed remote. "Take a look below my hospital bed and be amazed, fuckers."

Oriko shrugged. "Why not?" As she got up off the chair, she knelt down and peered under her bed. What she found horrified her, and she quickly stood up and looked to her girlfriend. "Kirika-chan... It's a... It's a bomb!" She thought to herself as she realized both of them had been cornered, _"No! This can't be happening! We're the ones in control here!"_

Kirika then herself set the syringe down and peered under the bed. As soon as she looked and found the bomb, she also had an expression of horror on her face. Aiko looked at her and told her, "Go fuck yourselves in Hell, shitheads."

"SHIT!" Kirika jumped up and tried to avoid the inevitable, but it was too late.

An ear-piercing explosion then consumed the room, blowing out the door and destroying the walls around it. The damage was limited to only the room, thankfully, an intention of Aiko and the others through Rei's bomb. As smoke cleared from the room and the fire alarms went off, several nurses and doctors ran to the room to see what had happened just as Kirika stepped out, seemingly unhurt from one angle as she adjusted her clothes and dusted herself off. However, approaching from another angle, a nurse yelled out, "Holy shit, her face!"

As it turns out, the explosion had killed Aiko and Oriko instantly, but Kirika was somehow still alive despite half of her face being blown off by the blast, and most of the right side of her body being reduced to some flesh and bone. It was a gruesome sight to behold, with blood oozing down to the ground and bones cracking. Additionally, her soul gem was badly damaged in the blast, and as she walked out, it continued to crack further and further. It was as if she was unable to register the blast happening at all as she then stopped dusting herself off and looked straight forward to the wall. Then, almost as if on cue, her soul gem finally shattered from the stress of the explosion and her injuries, and she dropped dead onto the floor. Even with the healing abilities of being a magical girl, the extent of her injuries made it almost impossible to heal herself, and the damage to her soul gem ensures self-healing would not occur.

A doctor shouted as he ran into another patient's room, "Get the fire department! Start getting patients out of the hospital!" The plan had worked, and the Magical Girl Killers were no more. Now, though, the gang would have to deal with the consequences of going against the Magic Defense Initiative and helping one of their own commit suicide through vigilante justice.


End file.
